Windows Easy Transfer Question

I am using Windows Easy Transfer to transfer my settings/data from my existing Windows 7 64-bit machine to a new one I will be building tomorrow. For what I can transfer I get two (2) options. The first is my User Account (which makes sense). The second is called simply "Public". "Public" is 560GB in size! My entire HDD is only 480GB unformatted. In Properties, Windows shows my HDD is only 210GB in used space in its entirety. Anyone have any idea what "Public" might be? At this juncture I am simply not going to include it. I have a copy of everything on my HDD so if anything turns up missing I wills simply copy it over manually.

Can I make a suggestion? Don't trust a wizard to decide what's important, especially given what you see. Just move the data manually, so you know it is done right the first time.

It isn't the data I am worried about (I always do wind up copying that manually) rather all of the various settings for Windows and my applications. With all due respect, that part of Easy File Transfer is a godsend. For me, that's the most bothersome part of upgrading or reinstalling and it has only gotten worse with each iteration of Windows. In the beginning (old Windows or Windows 95/98) it was pretty darned simple to copy everything manually. Then it got a little more complicated with XP and its user profiles. Worse still with Vista. Now with Windows 7 I honestly am not 100% certain I even know where everything is anymore between user, default, and public profiles and local, local low, and roaming folders within each (not to mention those silly redundant "public" and non-public folders). Then we have a dozen or so non-user-specific folders where program information and settings might be kept. The Easy Transfer program seems to do a good job with that stuff.

That's another reason why it should be done manually. You'll be reinstalling applications anyway, so why take the risk? Windows 7 doesn't really need much tweaking and customizing anyway. A total, clean install can be done in well under 2 hours, if you prep ahead of time...such as having all new drivers on a flash drive ready to go. Aside from user created data, there's nothing you should want brought over to a new computer.

I'm a firm believer in the thinking that a new computer should be just that...new...with with nothing "old" brought over to it. New installs, mean new and updated versions of the applications and drivers. Plus, if this is a brand new computer, OEM or prebuilt, you'll typically be doing the test install. Many of us install Windows 7 on a new system, and then use the grace period to test out new drivers and apps. Once we are happy, or sufficiently tested, we wipe the drive, install Windows 7 again, using only the desired driver versions and apps. I do this on any new system, just so I am happy and comfortable with how the drivers are running. I don't want hidden issues from multiple drivers revisions on a clean install. Same goes for remnants of apps. I'm done to about an hour and 45 mins for a total, from a blank drive, clean install so it is well worth my time to do this once per system.