I have just got a new computer system after my old one had a serious motherboard failure. Both the old and new system have Windows xp as the operating system. Although I have a nice new system, my old system is totally unbootable and I have so many important files and family holiday pictures on the old hard drive i really want to transfer them to the new hard drive. How can i do this? I can install a removable drive carriage into the new system and make the old drive a slave, but will it do any harm or fail to recognise the old drive? Thanks

As long as the old drive is mechanically functional the slave setup should work fine.

Verify that the jumpers are either Master/slave or Cable Select.

Originally Posted by jephree

As long as the old drive is mechanically functional the slave setup should work fine.

Verify that the jumpers are either Master/slave or Cable Select.

Thanks very much for that. Will it still be ok to do this bearing in mind that the old drive has an operating system already on it (windows xp) and the drive was user passworded for me as administrator (I still have the password).

I appreciate your time and advice regarding this problem.

Thanks very much.

It should still be alright. You will not be starting the Operating System but just accessing data.

Originally Posted by jephree

It should still be alright. You will not be starting the Operating System but just accessing data.

Thanks for the reply.. and have a very happy new year.
Ian

ok.. well I got a external hard drive case and hooked it up.. I can see all the folders now but it wont allow me to open them. My original Login in Windows XP was passworded to keep my files private. How can i get around this now?

Thanks again
Ian

What error do you get? A password protected Login should not be applicable to a slaved drive.

See if anything here helps:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

It just pops up with access denied.
In the end the new system was built with an external USB2 hard drive case (so I can back up) which the manafacturers say has to be set as a master in the unit. I will try the approach you linked me to and see how I get on.
Many thanks,
Ian

Fantastic !!! It worked like a dream!
I have now rescued all my MP3 tracks, My documents and my photographs. Can't thank you enough, the help you gave me was spot on and saved what i began to believe was totally lost data. The only thing I have to do now is to find where my emails, saved emails and email addresses are and somehow installem into my new outlook express. Any tips?
Thanks
Ian

If you've been using Outlook Express, search the old hard drive for DBX files. You can then connect Outlook Express on your new PC to that directory in Tools > Options and tell it NOT to overwrite the files when it connects. Alternatively, copy all of the files in the folder (that you found the DBX files in) into a new folder on the hard disk on the new PC. And again, go to Tools > Options and point it to the new place.

Outlook Express, like various other email applications, keeps all of your email addresses in the Windows Address Book. Search your old hard disk for WAB files. You can open WAB files directly just by double-clicking them. You can use the File > Import option in Outlook Express to import all of those addresses into the live address book on your new PC.

Hope that helps