I have Maximizer on my old 486, with a zillion files on it, and I need to put the data and programme on my new machine. Is it a fairly simple matter to plug the old hard drive into the new machine, and copy the programme and data files as a lump into the drive of the new machine? Thanks. d

You can copy all your own data files by setting your old drive up as a slave in your new machine but you cannot copy system files and program files. If you were upgrading a hard drive in your old machine this would be possible but as you are trying to copy programs to a new system with a completely different hardware setup this just wont work. Whether you chose to copy the OS or not would make no difference either. There would be too many hardware changes for windows. Trying to copy your program files from one PC to another is useless as the installed OS will not have the programs stored in its registry and therefor will not be able to launch the programs. Hope this helps Jordan

If Maximiser is a software program to fix a BIOS in order to increase the size the system recognizes, NO.

Thanks. No, Maximizer is a very good Contact Manager, and it has 10 years' worth of my client files on it.

As Jordan above advises, just install your old hdd as a slave in your new pc. Then copy any application (not o/s) programs and data files across to the new hdd, that are required. If using dos to copy, you should use XCOPY, which allows copying of sub-directories etc. If you wish you do not have to copy at all, but could run your programs directly from the old disc. I note you advise there are 10 years info there and would ask that you please be sure your backup facilities are adequate. Good luck - keep us posted.

Thanks to all. If I understand the above remarks, Jordan says that the slave arrangement will not allow me to copy programme files, Mike says that it won't. Hmm. We'd better work on this.

There is a contradiction to their advice because your did not state your problem very clear enough. Jordan said it will not work(what he meant is, it's not that simple), Mike said it will. Both answers, slightly contradicting as they may be, are both correct, beacause of your unclear statement. Jordan's point, if I understand him: Depending on the operation system and hardware configuration! Not because you installed an application in a certain location,(hard drive or directory) that doesn't mean that all the necessary files will be in that location. If it is a DOS program, yes, very much possible, but if it is a windows program, some dll files and other system files are probably installed in the windows directory itself, therefore simply copying the directory and program may not work. Your new OS and hardware configuration may not allow it to work, ie direct x, twain drivers, and OS incomapatibilities might be a problem. Mike is also correct, it's very easy to copy data from one HD to another with M-Slave configuration. Hence my statement, they are both correct.