My comments are interspersed below.

John

----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 12:41 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] xp - win98


> I just got a new computer with XP on it.  I want to put my old HD in this
> computer as a second HD.  My old HD runs Win98se.  Will I be able to run
> any programs off the old HD?

If you mean, can you boot into WinXP and then try to run the programs
installed on your Win98 disk, no this probably won't work.  The programs are
installed under Win98 and the details of this installation are to be found
in the Win98 registry, which WinXP will know nothing about.  Also keep in
mind that your are using different hardware, now.  Which brings us to your
second question.

> What about having it dual boot?  How?

Simply installing the old drive into your new computer will not let you dual
boot.  To begin with, you face the same problem of someone trying to move
their old Windows install from one computer to a different computer.  The
Windows install is set up for one set of hardware and it won't match up with
the hardware on the new computer.  This is why a new installation is usually
required.  You could try going through and removing all the hardware
installations from Device Manager with the drive still installed in your old
computer, shutting down, removing the drive, and placing it in the new
computer where hopefully it will go through a process of finding new
hardware and reconfiguring itself properly.  I know that people do this, but
it a bit tedious and still not recommended over doing a fresh windows
installation.

Even if you try this, you still have the problem of getting some sort of
boot manager installed; so, you can choose which operating system to boot
into.  The usual procedure is to install the older operating system first
(Win98 in this case) and then the new operating system (Win XP in this
case).  This way Win XP can see that Win 98 is already present and load a
boot manager that can recognize both Win 98 and Win XP.  If you do it the
other way around, Win 98 will not recognize Win XP and know how to manage a
boot into it.

I'm sure there are work-arounds for getting a boot manager to work properly,
assuming you have two properly working operating systems on your new
computer (one on each hard drive).  You might be able to pull this off with
a third party boot manager, such as the one that comes with Partition Magic,
but we are past the point of deminishing returns on the convenience factor
compared to simply re-installing your software on the new computer under
WinXP.

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