It's probably not possible, but.......

[PeteH]

it's worth asking.

My problem is this. The old PC has finally joined the Norwegian Blue and gone to meet it's maker :-( . I'm told it's probably the mother board but whatever it doesn't work. The hard drive is apparently OK though. Whilst it contains all my FS stuff most of this can be replaced fairly easily (all payware backed up). What can't be replaced so easily is my wife's Family History files, This is, of course, all my fault for not backing them up :roll: .

Now, as a new PC is called for and this will have Vista as the OS will it be possible to install the HD from the old PC (XP) as a second HD and transfer the files over or will this cause insurmountable problems?

No doubt by this this time the Gurus amongst you are laughing like drains but as STUPID please bear with me. Any other solution to the problem would be appreciated, not only in the interests of marital harmony but also as it would strengthen my argument for a considerably upgraded PC ;-) .

Thanks.

Pete

[SkippyBing]

Your easiest bet is to find out what sort of hard drive it is, IDE or SATA and then buy the appropriate external hard drive enclosure. This'll basically turn it into an external USB hard drive which you can plug into your new machine and copy files across at will. If you go to dabs.com they have a range of hard drive enclosures at reasonable rates, although other vendors are available, and probably cheaper I'm just lazy.

[airboatr]

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[petermcleland]

Both the suggested solutions are sound recommendations and quite easy to do. I would just like to point out that you do NOT have to have Vista...I certainly wouldn't

[Quixoticish]

You should be able to read the files off the old hard disk without any problems even if you do use VISTA on your new system. It'll simply be a case of setting it up as a secondary hard drive inside your PC or adding it to an external USB/LAN hard drive enclosure and dragging and dropping your files off from this drive to your new PC's hard disk.

[airboatr]

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[RobDob]

My new PC uses SATA and my old was IDE, I didn't think of this before ordering! DOH! All I needed to do in the end was plug my old HDD into the DVD ROM IDE cable and transferred that way. I would have installed my old drive as others have suggested but there's no room inside my new machine and my 3 year old would throw an external drive across the room in the blink of an eye!!

[PeteH]

Thanks for that everyone. So it is possible

The SATA-IDE problem was going to be my next question but it seems there is a workaround for that too.

All I have to decide now is VISTA or XP. As I want to run FSX (ducks) which will be the best long term option?

Thanks again.

Pete

[Quixoticish]

Thanks for that everyone. So it is possible

The SATA-IDE problem was going to be my next question but it seems there is a workaround for that too.

All I have to decide now is VISTA or XP. As I want to run FSX (ducks) which will be the best long term option?

Thanks again.

Pete

XP gets my vote, since it looks as though VISTA is "Windows ME #2" in that it will be replaced by something better and far more stable in a shorter time than anyone realised. Although to be completely honest either will do you just as well for the average user, it's up to you depending on what is available and how much you are willing to spend.

[PeteH]

Thanks Chris.

You're not the only one telling me that sticking with XP is the best option so I think that's the way to go.

Pete