Desktop DNA 2.0 Tests I

Gauging The Effectiveness Of PC To PC

We began by trying a Win 2k native replication. One PC was source to the other target. Both ran the same software (Office 2000, IE 5.0, Windows Commander and GetRight). Each PC, however had different application settings and preferences (one was set to connect via a particular proxy server).

We decided to save the source settings as a Desktop DNA file. We then picked the system settings to migrate. Next, we chose the application settings to migrate. To determine which applications had been installed, Desktop DNA scanned the PC. It then presented us with a list of supported applications that it had discovered. This let us choose to migrate settings for these applications.

Desktop DNA doesn't let you pick which individual settings to migrate for each application. Instead, it only presents a general settings check box. However, the developer's (Miramar Systems) Web site lists applications that Desktop DNA supports and tells you which settings the product captures for each application. We feel they could have simplified the migration process by including these details in the product itself.

We selected the folders and files to include in the migration. At this point you can include specific documents and templates. You can also selectively include a range of files sorted by name, date or type. We chose to transfer all Microsoft Word documents that had an .RTF extension excluding those stored in My Documents folder. After we finished the selection, Desktop DNA copied the selected files and folders them to a 20MB Desktop DNA file. This was in turn stored on a network folder.

We now ran Desktop DNA On the target PC from the CD-ROM. We then selected the Desktop DNA file from the network folder and chose the settings to migrate. The software offered to validate all settings before we applied them. This validation is a useful step and alerts you to potential errors or conflicts.

Desktop DNA, for example, alerts you if you try to migrate a setting to NT from Win95 and NT doesn't support that setting. Desktop DNA took a few minutes to apply our settings. Finally it prompted us to reboot the target PC. We logged back in to Win2K and checked the new settings. Desktop DNA had captured all the specified settings. Now the source and target PCs had the same OS and application properties.

Were any of the migrated settings to create a problem or conflict on the target PC, Desktop DNA's Undo button undoes applied settings. We tested the Undo button. Desktop DNA cleanly reverted the target PC to its original state.

To save time during mass migration, you create a Desktop DNA profile to record settings used in the migration. You can create a profile that lets the software copy settings for the Windows desktop but not the screen saver. A profile helps avoid manual selection for each target PC.