I intend to install vista onto a new hard drive, my question is ,if i keep my old hard drive with xp on as a slave drive will i be able to access my files etc from vista on the new master drive.

many thanks

As long as you have not encrypted the files or set other special restrictions/permissions then yes.

Using your BIOS or another boot manager you can also have it set to dual boot where you can choose which drive to boot.

There is also the File And Settings Transfer wizard if you just want to transfer data.

Apparently in Vista this is called the Windows Easy Transfer

Thank you Jephree
i am installing new hard drive and vista this evening along with a new processor and graphics card i hope it all goes well , if not i shall be back for help! i will post either way.

thanks again

No problem.

Hoping for the best!

well 5 hours later and its very slow keeps freezing ( i am downloading ATI drivers) i try to install office and it says that windows installer cant install as it needs "elevating" any ideas what elevating means?. i shall plod on i just hope its worth it at the end

by the way i have a intel d processor3 ghz, 1 gig ram ddr2 , ATI radeon x1650pro graphics card and 250 hard drive

What version of Office is it?

Here is a list of compatible software with Vista:

http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.ph...t#Office_Tools

I would say there is some other hardware issue if the setup takes that long.

Hi jephree

this is the error message i get

erro executing file
E:\OFFICE11.disc1 profesional setup.exe
the rquested operation rquires elevation

and i cant get it to recognise my graphics card at all in device manager

apart from that it looks good!

solved the elevation problem i went to the setup file right clicked and ran as administrator and it loaded like a dream i would like to claim credit but i found it here

http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/a...ista.aspx#3311