Hi, I am getting a new Hard Drive (120gb) for xmas and I am going to be using my current (40gb)as storage. I just want to make sure of a few things so I don't mess anything up. I have installed a hard drive before I just don't remember. First I'll install the hard drive and have the jumper set so it is the primary. Then when I am installing Win Xp Pro on this new hard drive, do I need a floppy or do I just leave the cd in and it will boot up/format the drive and install win xp? My floppy drive does not work. Also since I am using Windows on this new hard drive how can I uninstall it from my old 40gig drive? Thanks a lot, I have looked around a bit for this info. but I found some unclear/contradictory statements. Also if anyone can refer me to a good guide on how to transfer programs/ updated game files (with out reinstallin the patches) or something of this nature please let me know! Thanks a lot!

Make sure you can boot from cd. You can change this in your System BIOS (Most systems it's DEL during startup). You can install XP on your new HD then. Other option is to format your new HD first and using a Symantec ghost boot disk to ghost your old Harddrive to your new one. Without data loss.

Thanks Gimili, about this Symantec Ghost... Do I install it to my new hard drive or the old? And can I choose what I want to bring over? Because theres some crap I dont want and there is probably some corrupt stuff in the registry.

Easiest way for you is to remove the old hard drive. Install the new drive then install XP on the new drive. After a successful XP install then install the old drive as a slave drive. Copy any data off the old drive you may need to youe 120G drive then format the slave drive. This will remove all traces of XP (original install) and still retain your data. If you Ghost (or Image) the drive this will also copy your existing XP install. It sounds like you only want to salvage your data off the old drive so do the above.

That's an option. But it could be difficult to copy programs manually. Because a lot of .dll and .ini files needed to run the program will probably be installed in the windows directory. So if you just want backup single files or save games use teri's advice, else I would Ghost it.

oops sorry, You have to install ghost to your old HD.

You don't even need to install it. Just create the ghost boot floppies and use them to boot up and image the primary over to the new disc. Personally, I would keep the 40 as my primary drive and use the 120 for storage. That of course depends on the vintage of the 40 gig drive. If it's a newer fast hard drive, keep it as primary. It'll be faster and more efficient with respect to seek times and general maintenance. If you're storing large files such as movies, music, etc, you'd eat up that 40 pretty quickly and still end up storing files on your primary if you use the 120.