Well, there is no "old" and "new" computer, really...

I just replaced the mobo, cpu, power supply, RAM in rather monster-sized custom case (pretty much a cabinet on casters):

Part of it is to make access to insides of system really easy and also have a 3-speed 7" regular Honeywell room fan built in to suck heat out downward towards floor which I crank to high speed when rendering if so needed (looks kind of like a fan jet - lol). With 2 small internal fans I added, it seems to do a nice cooling job:

--- CPU hovers at 26C while Net surfing, installing progs etc. My old Pentium D would be at 45C and hit 61c or so on full-tilt render even room temperature was moderate.

The hard drives have their own cabinet section for up to 12 hard drives if needed (8 slots for now) with its own exhaust fans. Most of my drives are/were SATA2, but do have a few IDE's I use for storage, emergency OS, etc.

Well, if it were me, and I were upgrading to a new operating system, for the price of hard drives to day, I'd buy a new speedy/high capacity one for the upgraded system and apply the same strategy as listed above.

Is it too late to apply this strategy?

...Jerry

Edit: I just re-read your original post and I'm not sure I understand the statement: "Please note that I cannot fire up my old XP drive(s) (and hence not my old VP8); I can only access any and all of these as essentially data mining folders." I may have answered a question you did not ask..

Oh, one more thing you for Win7 your render templates should be in "%username%\appdata\Roaming\sony\Render Templates"

While I don't have an XP system handy, I'm guessing that templates are in something like {drive letter}:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\Application Data\Sony\Render Templates" or maybe {drive letter}:\Documents and Settings\{user name}\local settings\application data\Sony\Render Templates" Make sure you make hidden files & folder viewable; instructions here . Maybe someone with XP can confirm one of these locations (it's been over a year since I've had XP on any of my home PC's and my memory is dim).

...Jerry

Thanks, Jerry.

I'll figure out the transfer of settings from old XP VP8c somehow via Application Settings, etc. folders. Just did that with Firefox 3.6 (I don't care for 4 at this point) so I saved a lot of time copying all the profile files from "dead" XP to the Win7 (everything worked -- extensions, themes, site logins, etc.) so hopefully my new VP8.1 will do likewise once I copy/past the equivalent from old to new. I'll do this by using...

... Agent Ransack (freeware) system search app that I've had for many years -- much faster, leaner and more advanced features than Windows search. I found it due to that my XP Search got corrupted early on and had to find a replacement that turned into an improvement. It runs independently from Windows Explorer and one can do *.file extension and other search parameters.

There is also a shareware version of Ransack Agent -- FileLocater Pro -- link is at that page that offers more features but I've never needed them.

Well, I ran two instances of Agent Ransack so I could select and explore folders on both OS drives and I still haven't figured out what files to transfer for XP and Win7's application stuff is organized differently -- differently named directories. For my current render I just went ahead and did things manually.

But I hope I can find a way to send app settings, workspace settings, etc. over. .

Thanks.

This is a copy (more or less) of what I sent via PM. I usually just gut it out and re-do everything. However, there are definitely some programs that will let you do what you want, not just for Vegas, but for everything else.

I used to deal with a guy named Walt Mossberg. He was always writing about this sort of scenario. I just did a quick Google and found one of his columns on exactly this subject:

Mossberg Migration Advice

I briefly skimmed it, and it sounds like the products he tested didn't exactly work well. However, if you search on

Walt Mossberg Transfer Settings New Computer

you'll find links to various other programs that may do what you want, such as Alohabob PC Relocator Ultra, PC Mover, and Soft Rescue.

It's not clear whether any of these programs addresses the XP to Windows 7 relocation. My advice would be to use the old links provided in the Mossberg article and go to the Microsoft site. I poked around for ten seconds and found this:

Microsoft Migration Tools

But, like I said at the outset, I don't have anything to recommend that I've actually used myself. Usually when I post in the Sony (or any other forum) I am giving advice based on actual experience.

P.S. This old thread might be of some help:

Location of Vegas Settings Files

In that thread it refers to this tool:

Vegas Presets Manager

Slightly off-topic from your questions, bear in mind that Vegas 8.1 never really matured as a product. One thing in particular I recall was that the improved HDV codec that was introduced in the 32-bit version around 8.0b or 8.0c, never made it to 8.1. You might be better off be better off running 8.0c, especially if you're working with HDV.

I don't think 8.1 is going to work well on 64 bit Windows 7. It was a halfhearted attempt at 64 bit, at best, lots of plugins didn't work, and had all kinds of issues.

You can try it, but I think you'll be happier with 8.0c 32 bit, until you're ready to upgrade.

OK, thanks to all further input-ers :o)

The stick-with-8c sounds good and would probably help in sneaking over settings--maybe. Though as Johnmeyer essentially told me, I may just have to roll up sleeves and re-do. In one sense, that's good for I have way too many render-out templates and old, never-used again FX chains on my dead XP system -- so might as well start clean.

But in terms of the aforementioned half-assed-ness of 8.1 vs. sticking to 8c. until I upgrade, content isn't as much an issue for me as performance. I'm going to go out tommorrow and buy as much RAM as my Gigabyte board can take - 4x4Gb kit/16 Gb.

Reply by: amendegw, Date: 6/17/2011 7:44:48 AM
You may have to use the old computer's cable 'cuz it's probably an IDE whereas the new computer is SATA, but they should work together w/o problem. Look in your mobo's specs and make sure it has an IDE interface.


Actually if you want to pull files off your IDE drive, all you need is an IDE to SATA adapter like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Bidirectional-IDE-to-SATA-Converter/dp/B000RK89M4

or

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UO6C5S/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000RK89M4&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=151C9K23PM1SX93DMPKM

Thanks for response and time put into links, Byron, but that's not really the issue or a problem, and my old drives were mostly SATA2. Which are all hooked up for "data mining"(mobo has 6 internal SATA ports) as I proceed to re-building my computer universe... :o)

In terms of my question of...



I'm still using 8.1 for now since I needed to render something out and I've partially answered my own question by observation: I have "Core Temp" a little freeware utility that shows core activity and temperature -- all 6 cores were running at full tilt @45C on last render.

I suppose I'll just have to find out on my own how 8.c will handle it once I re-install it.

@Byron_K: Interesting, I didn't know they made a "Bidirectional IDE to SATA Converter'. I've got one of the USB -> any drive connectors and it's one of the handiest things I have in my toolkit.

...Jerry

I also have the USB->any drive adapters and it has proven to be very handy!

It would be interesting to see performance tests of the 6 core AMD Phenom II X6 1090T w/ Vegas.

It would be interesting to see performance tests of the 6 core AMD Phenom II X6 1090T w/ Vegas

Well, I've barely reconstituted my new 64-bit Win7 OS and just upgraded to 16Gb. DDR3 with a ways to go with all of it, and so testing it isn't in my calendar, so to speak. All I know at this juncture is that It's a definite improvement over my Pentium D 2.8Ghz. :o)

That said, I've always been an Intel person but it was a choice between an entry level i-7 2.8 Ghz with 4 true cores and 4 virtual or 6 true ones at 3.2 Ghz. I opted for all real. I also had no Internet access during the I-have-no-computer-right-now periiod to go for more usual somewhat compulsively lengthy research. So I had to just trust that what my neighborhood Fry's had was just going to have to do the job.

That said, it is my understanding that the AMD 12-cores will be out within this next year...
Ya just can't keep up with this stuff these days - lol.

BTW, 8.1 had some serious issues encoding to MPEG-2. I spent a huge amount of money building a 64-bit system just to get what I thought was going to be better performance with 8.1, but then I found out it would not reliably encode to MPEG-2, and got really ticked off:

8.1 creates MPEG-2 w/ blank spots

My bottom line recommendation: Don't use 8.1 for anything!! If, for whatever reason, you want or need 64-bit (I'm still not convinced it is generally better, except for a few narrowly defined tasks), then spend the money to upgrade to 10.x.

Johnmeyer,

OK, got the message. I'll install my 8c and stop using 8.1 until I upgrade.

I'm actually surprised how many of my 32-bit programs still work fine on my 64-bit system. Looks like Microsoft did a decent job on backward compatibility. One example:

I still use a 1998 HP Deskjet 812c printer -- back in the days when cartridges were 3x larger than today. As with XP, the disk that came with the printer didn't work (Win95/98), but it was simple and easy to install the printer. A workhorse printer for which cartridges are still available -- though I buy quality non-HP ones that cost quite a bit less.

I have all versions of Vegas, and use Win7-64 bits; but still I prefer to edit in 8c. It is a marvel of stability - never a quirk for editing.

Rendering is a different story. Plenty of crashes and incomplete renders with long, complex projects. So I always render in 9x - 64bits. Again, flawless, no-surprise performance.

However, you can improve rendering performance in 8c substantially - when using 64-bit OS - with the memory hack:

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=753816

The hack works MUCH better in a 64-bit OS than in a 32-bit environment, which is inherently limited in available memory. So give it a try if you have problems rendering in 8c.