How easy this will be depends a little on your newer computer:

A) If it has two places where you can attach drive ribbons, and one of them is not being used, then you can move your older hard 
drive and its ribbon connector to the unused connector on the new machine.  Then you can copy files to the new computer's hard drive 
at your leisure.  You can also leave it there if you want for extra storage.  There are two possible complications.  The first is 
that if you are copying installed programs (like Word, for example), they will likely not work on the newer computer, because they 
have to be installed, not just copied.  Some programs will work and some will not.  (You would need the original disks to install 
them.)  If you keep the drive on the new computer, drive letters may change, too, for your cd and/or DVD drives, but that problem 
can be corrected in XP.

B) If you do not have a spare connector, then I suggest that you temporarily disconnect the current ribbon that is not connected to 
the new hard drive, and replace it with the old drive and ribbon and copy the necessary files.  (This assumes that the newer 
computer has two IDE ribbon connectors - it probably does.)

C) If your newer motherboard has only one IDE connector, then you need to temporarily disconnect the cd drive from the ribbon and 
replace it with the older drive.  In this case, the "jumper" on the back of the old drive will likely have to be moved from its 
current "master" position to the "slave" position.  There may be a label on the old drive that tells you the slave position.  If 
not, you can experiment until the computer recognizes the old drive and can read it. You can also check the manufacturer's web site 
for this information.

In any case, you will need to plug a power cord into the back of the older drive while it is in the newer computer.  These can be 
very difficult to plug and unplug, so be patient if necessary.  (The power cords are the "Molex" connectors with four big pins in 
them.)

If you have ever done any of these things, it will be quite easy enough.  If you  have not, now is a good time to learn.  Do NOT 
touch anything inside the computer besides the hard drives, ribbons, or power cords.  Touch your hand to a metal part of the case to 
drain static electricity from your body before poking around inside, in case you accidentally touch something.  I think that our web 
site, www.freepctech.com, still has some pictures (old, but still valid) on building a pc that show hard drive connections.  This 
should be a great learning experience.

Good Luck!

Dean Kukral

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bernadine" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 4:54 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Transfer files from one computer to another



I have an old computer this XP and an older yet computer Win 98, no idea what's on it anymore.

The Win98 computer will not work with a flash drive. I have quite a few files and folders I would like to transfer from the Win98 to 
the XP and unless I use hundreds of floppy disks I can't do that. Is there a way to transfer files more easily and not cost me an 
arm and a leg? Can the old hard drive be linked to the newer computer? How? If not can the old hard drive be taken out and added to 
the newer computer? How? I'm not very good at understanding most of the answers you write to others, so could you please explain in 
easy terms.

Thank you,

Bernadine

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