I have a Windows XP machine and want to back-up data, then download to new Windows 7 machine. Will this work?

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November 10th, 2009 - Posted by Kent

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Q: I have a Windows XP machine and want to back-up data, then download to new Windows 7 machine. Will this work? Thanks

A: Yes, this will work, provided you use a backup service that is Windows 7 compatible. IDrive is the only service we've reviewed so far that claims that its software is Windows 7 compatible. However, any of services that allow web-based interaction should work as well, since they use a web app for the restoration. Backing up your documents, music, photos, and videos will enable you to "restore" them to a new Windows 7 machine.

We will put in our standard warning that this will probably be slower than a direct connection between two computers. A complete backup can take a day or more, depending on your Internet connection. There are a few reasons for this, one of which is that it takes time for IDrive to encrypt and unencrypt your data, a crucial operation for safeguarding your files.

However, if you already have a compatible online backup solution, or you plan on purchasing one, there's no reason why you shouldn't give it a try.