Don't worry. Your new computer will not erase the old drive unless you 
tell it to with the format command. All you need to do is boot the old 
drive in Safe Mode and clean out Device Manager, so the drivers for your 
old system won't interfere with using your older Windows with the new 
devices such as the motherboard, IDE controller, etcetera. Another 
option for supporting legacy applications in a Windows XP environment 
are the new compatibility modes. If you right-click your application's 
shortcut and select Properties, you will see three tabs on the dialog 
box that shows up: General and Shortcut (which you have seen before), 
and the new one, Compatibility. That new tab will let you trick programs 
into thinking they are being run in an older version of Windows, and 
whether new Windows features like text services and themes will work 
with the program. Hope this helps some. :)

Jill Rhynard wrote:
> Pardon my newbie-ness.  I have a computer running XP.  I have an older computer running 98.   Can I take the hard drive out of the older computer and put it as a secondary hard drive in the new computer without botching things up.  I would like to be able to have the choice at boot time of which hard drive to boot off, thus being able to use some older programs I have that only run in 98.
>
> I am thinking that if I just put the old hard drive in the new computer, the new computer will recognize it and hope fully not erase, overwrite or format and just leave everything as it is.  Then I can opt to boot from the old or the new when I turn it on.
>
> Am I over simplifying it?  
>
> thanks for the help
>
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