Primafact Workstation Replacement and Migration Guide

Why Primafact workstations wear out faster than typical office PCs

Staff running Primafact spend the day opening large scanned PDFs, running searches across thousands of pages, and often keeping the application open alongside PCLaw and Microsoft 365. That workload is heavier than email and spreadsheets, and it shows up first as a machine that used to feel fine starting to lag on ordinary tasks.

A workstation that was adequate three years ago for a smaller case load can become the bottleneck once document volumes grow, which is a pattern covered in more depth in our guide to Primafact server and workstation requirements.

Signs a workstation needs replacing rather than repairing

• Mechanical hard drive instead of solid-state storage, causing slow document opens
• Less than 16 GB of RAM while running Primafact, PCLaw, and Microsoft 365 together
• Repeated freezing when opening large productions or medical records
• Operating system nearing end of support, which is a security exposure on its own
• Hardware failures becoming frequent enough that repair costs approach replacement cost

What to specify for a new Primafact workstation

The right specification depends on role. A litigation clerk who spends the day inside large document sets needs more headroom than a part-time user who checks a file occasionally.

• Solid-state drive as standard, sized for the local Primafact cache and other applications
• 16 to 32 GB of RAM depending on how many applications run simultaneously
• A current-generation processor rather than the cheapest available model
• A wired network connection wherever a desk allows it, rather than relying on Wi-Fi
• Dual monitors for staff comparing documents side by side, which reduces workflow friction

Planning the migration so nobody loses a day of billable work

The biggest risk in a workstation refresh is not the hardware, it is the transition. Local Primafact settings, printer mappings, saved searches, and shortcuts all need to move with the user, and case files themselves need to be verified as accessible from the new machine before the old one is retired.

1. Inventory current workstations, ages, and specifications across the firm.
2. Prioritize replacements by workload: heaviest Primafact users first.
3. Stage new machines with the firm's standard image, applications, and network configuration.
4. Migrate one or two users at a time, testing real case files rather than sample documents.
5. Confirm printer, scanner, and network share mappings before releasing the user to work.
6. Keep the old machine powered off but available for a short overlap period in case something was missed.

Coordinating replacement with server and network capacity

New workstations with faster storage and more RAM will only help if the server and network can keep pace. A firm replacing workstations while running an aging server or a saturated network connection often finds the improvement smaller than expected, because the bottleneck simply moves elsewhere. If document opens are already slow firm-wide, our guide on why Primafact runs slow walks through how to isolate whether the cause is workstation, server, or network.

Firms running Primafact alongside PC Law should also review workstation needs for both applications together rather than planning each in isolation, since the same machines usually run both, as covered in our guide to running Primafact and PC Law together.

Backup and security during a hardware refresh

A workstation refresh is a natural point to confirm that backup coverage and endpoint security travel with the new machines rather than being an afterthought. Every new workstation should be enrolled in endpoint protection and covered under the firm's backup and disaster recovery plan before it is put into daily use, and old machines should have their local drives securely wiped before disposal.

This is also a reasonable moment to confirm cybersecurity controls such as full-disk encryption and multi-factor authentication are enabled on the new machines from day one rather than retrofitted later.

Budgeting and lifecycle planning

Rather than replacing every workstation at once, most firms are better served by a rolling replacement cycle of three to five years, spreading cost and minimizing disruption. A written lifecycle plan, maintained as part of ongoing managed IT services, makes budgeting predictable and avoids the scramble of an entire fleet failing around the same time.

Frequently asked questions