Sure there are a lot of options. If you've got a portable hard drive, you can drag files off one computer, plug in to the other one, and drag files off. But who wants to deal with a tedious two step process when you'd rather be enjoying the holidays? Another option is, of course, to physically migrate the whole hard drive to the inside of your new machine. But voided warranties aside, a lot of us just aren't geek enough for that kind of challenge.

Thankfully there's a third option that makes the file migration process so simple, it ought to have its own infomerical. The Tornado might look like an oversized retractable USB cable, but inside that silver plastic shell is some ingenious hardware.

Plug one end of the USB cable into your old PC, the other end into your new one, and within seconds, two soothing green LEDs let you know that a network connection has been established. After that, a window opens on both screens that lets drag files back and forth between PCs. Yes folks, it's really that easy. As long as both machines are running Windows XP or Vista, there's no software to install, and no hassle whatsoever. It's just plug, plug, drag, drop. If your old PC is a Windows 98 machine, you'll need to install a driver, but that's it.

The file transfer speed isn't blazing fast, but it's not slow either. Between my EEE PC and desktop, a gigabyte of mixed photos and music files migrated over at about 9MB/second. And keep in mind this is a one step process. Getting files onto a portable hard drive might be quicker, but then you have to double that time dragging them onto your new machine. With the Tornado you can, to borrow from Mr. Popeil, set it and forget it.

There are a few things to keep in mind, however. The cable in the Tornado maxes out at about four feet, so the two machines will have to be quite close together. Also, while you don't have to manually install any software on either machine, the device definitely runs its own little applet to get your machines talking to each other, so you'll need to be logged in to the primary user (Admin) account on both machines. Lastly, when you're finished using The Tornado, make sure all pets and small children are at a safe distance before pressing the silver button to reel the two ends of the cable in, because they have a tendency to snap and flail like an irate octopus.

All lame jokes and minor quibbles aside, The Tornado is a quick and easy way to get files from one PC to another. And the company even includes free "PC Eraser" software that helps erase any trace of files from your old computer, so you can donate it to a worthy cause without worrying about identity theft. Now how much would you pay?

The Tornado can make all your PC file migration hassles go away for one easy payment of $59.99. It's available now, so if you're giving or getting a new PC for the holidays, or any other time of year, pick one of these up and save yourself a esdted afternoon and a headache. In a perfect world, one of these little devices would be included inside the box of every new PC, and John Hodgman would actually be able to talk smack to Justin Long. The Tornado is PC only. Take that, Mac.

Post by Matt Safford