hey guys, i and my dad recently ordered a new pc (from www.abspc.com), and we're now searching for the least painful method of transferring all of our files from the current pc to the new one. is there a single best way to do this, like burning cd's, or floppy disks, or through the firewire port or usb? the problem with firewire is that, although i have an ipod (10gb), it freezes everytime i plug it into the firewire port. i ifgured that would be the most painless way, since 20gb is about the amount of files i need to transfer. so im asking you guys, would the ipod be the best way to transfer, and if so, anyone have any ideas about how to stop the port from freezing my computer every time i plug it in? if not, what are some otehr methods of transfer that would be relatively quick and easy? is there some software i could get that would help? thanks in advance

How about installing the older harddrive into the newer computer and copying the files to the hard drive in that computer.

smithdk, how would i go about doing this? i'm probably mistaken, but i thought you could only boot windows using a single harddrive at a time. i know next to nothing about installing a hard drive in the first place, if you could direct me somehwere that would guide me through the process it would be grealty appreciated. i am a little hesitant at doing this since i'd need to uninstall the hd and put it back in the old comp, since my brother is taking it off to college, and i dont want to damage it. joe

if anyone has any tips on how to go about fixing the firewire port, let me know. if i got it working, it would take only about a half hour to transfer all the files, it would be much easier than installing the hd on the other comp. joe

What type of files are you going to transfer? You can directly copy data and music files. Program files are different since they can not be directly copied unless it is the install file. You can actually install up to 4 hard drives in the computer at one time (2 of each IDE channel). This site shows how to install a hard drive: http://www.basichardware.com/HowTo_Install_Hard_Drive.html If you feel uncomfortable about doing this then choose a different option.

smithdk, i took a look at the how to install a hard drive article, and i have another problem: i don't have a windows 98 setup disk (the company did not send me one when i bought the computer 3 years ago and now they are out of business). now i guess another option is burning cd's, but there lies another problem: i don't know how to burn data cd's. i have adaptec easy cd-creator, and when i select a file (such as a word file), and burn it, when i select the cd it says audio cd and the file extension is [.cda]. any ideas on how to make it burn data and not audio?

There is a program that you can pick up at Walmart called PC Relocator that will use a parellel port or USB port to transfer all your files and shortcuts and favorites from the old computer to the new computer. It sells for $20.00. If you have Norton Ghost you can Ghost any thing you want from that Hardrive to some CD's and then install them on your new hard drive.