My old E-Machines suddenly died and unfortunately, I had not backed up my files, photos, etc. to disc before it happened . I should take delivery of my new HP today and will have the weekend to successfully complete a transfer . My current plans are to remove the XP hard drive from my old computer and install it into the new HP as a slave and hopefully move what I need from XP to Vista which will be the master. Once accomplished, I assume I can basically clean the old hard drive and leave it in for extra storage or, leave the XP installed and simply remove it and reinstall it in my old E Machines if I decide to repair it. One of my co-workers who is by far more advanced than I am concerning PC technology informed me that my plan will work just fine and that I could actually leave the XP installed hard drive in the HP along with Vista and that it will simply identify them as two different drives like "C" and "D" drive. What I'm not sure of is the process for moving my Norton 360 over to the new HP. Do you treat it as you would any other file? I upgraded to 360 online so I didn't get an install disk but was wondering if since I am registered with Symantec, could I simply dowload 360 to my new computer straight from their website? Any suggestions that will help this process run smoothly will be greatly appreciated.

BTW - the hard drive in my old PC is a Western Digital that I installed when my old hard drive crashed so I have the installation instructions and the install CD. I don't recall what information the CD contained but do recall it questioning whether the new hard drive was to be partioned or not. I assume this means that the computer would recognize two different operating systems depending on which one was accessed? THANKS IN ADVANCE ALL!

My current plans are to remove the XP hard drive from my old computer and install it into the new HP as a slave and hopefully move what I need from XP to Vista which will be the master. Once accomplished, I assume I can basically clean the old hard drive and leave it in for extra storage or, leave the XP installed and simply remove it and reinstall it in my old E Machines if I decide to repair it.

That is correct, this should work just fine.

What I'm not sure of is the process for moving my Norton 360 over to the new HP. Do you treat it as you would any other file? I upgraded to 360 online so I didn't get an install disk but was wondering if since I am registered with Symantec, could I simply dowload 360 to my new computer straight from their website?

You should contact Symantec on this if you cannot re-download it from the site. You can't just move an application (with only some very minor exceptions, and I am quite sure Norton 360 do not fall under these exceptions) from one machine to another.

BTW - the hard drive in my old PC is a Western Digital that I installed when my old hard drive crashed so I have the installation instructions and the install CD. I don't recall what information the CD contained but do recall it questioning whether the new hard drive was to be partioned or not. I assume this means that the computer would recognize two different operating systems depending on which one was accessed?

No, no need for that. In fact, that utility will likely try to wipe the drive, so don't use it. Just put the hard drive in the new machine as a slave to the master hard disk (have your friend over to help with that if you have trouble figuring out the jumpers) or on a cable that is unoccupied, and go from there.

You may run into one snag depending upon the age of your old system and the configuration of the new. If the old drive is an IDE drive you may find that you do not have an IDE connection in your new machine unless you specifically ordered a machine with one. Most machines are now coming with SATA drive only.

If this is the case you can get an SATA->IDE adapter, or you can get an external adapter to connect the drive to a usb or firewire port either permanently or temporarily.

Yup USB enclosure ... easy and fast

Edited January 25, 200818 yr by jackiebrent