XP hard disk in Vista--Help Question

[studioWI]

Hey all--

I'm a newbie and I need help on how to accomplish something.

I'll try to explain in detail what's up:

Yesterday, I had an old (3 yrs) HP desktop computer (running XP SP2.) I thought that I'd upgrade the memory and inserted a totally uncompatible DIMM. Yup...burned up the computer....

I thought that everything was backwards compatible....oops....

Anyhow, I bought a new desktop running Vista (HPE), pulled the old HD out of the tower, inserted it into the USB HD enclosure (that I just bought), and plugged it into the Vista machine.

Vista machine sees it as drive J & K ((recovery partition) and i can see alot for my old files), but can i boot from that drive without ruining my Vista computer?...I guess I need to boot the old HD long enuff to copy the My Documents folder to a USB portable hard disk....but how exactly?

How do I boot that drive?

I'm thinking a partion/dual boot setup might work, but having not been up on things for a while, I thought I'd ask first. (If I do boot from that disk/partition when it boots, some of the hardware/drivers are gonna be different.)

I thought about using OSL2000 Boot Manager, even installed/uninstalled, but i really don't want to ruin a new computer.

Any insight/help is appreciated.

Thanks.

-g

[Miz]

Since Vista sees the drive and you can see your files on it, will it not let you just copy the files you want from the old drive onto the new?

[renegade600]

since the copy of xp came with the old computer, you cannot use it on any other computer per the eula. You can use the drive for storage by installing it as a slave drive.

[Murf]

As MIZ says you do not need to boot from the drive to get the files off. Besides it will not boot as it does not have the drivers loaded for the new system. Since you already have VISTA and if you try to reinstall-Install XP even on the external drive you will run into all kinds of problems as you need to install XP first then VISTA.

Xp will over write the VISTA boot file and you will end up with neither operating system booting. Yes it can be done, but you would have to modify the VISTA boot files first.

[studioWI]

It will open the programs if i go to the programs folder, but the My Documents folder is nowhere to be found...and thats what i need...

weird....i can open googlearth from my XP drive, but i can's get any of my photos...

[what_the5846]

You can find the my documents folder under c:\documents and settings\your old username\my documents.

[studioWI]

nope...not there....i have 4 folders...

Favorites
Desktop
Shared Documents(Empty)
Start Menu...
...and one NTUSER.dat file...

Thanks for trying...

-g

[Murf]

Check each folder under Documents and Settings, as it may be under the Admin acoount. Also it may be hidden. Highlight Documents and Settings, then at the menu at the top go to View File......Unhide folders.

[studioWI]

Murf!!!

It was hidden. Thank you so much.
When I'm done, can i just reformat the disk?

-g

[Murf]

Sure can and within Windows. Glad you got your files. If you plan on keeping it in the new one just format it.

Now if you plan on putting it back in it's original home, I would repartition and format it. And when asked don't asign a drive letter. Then put in its home boot from CD to install the operating system.


Question? "I'd upgrade the memory and inserted a totally uncompatible DIMM"

What exactly happened after you booted with this incompatible memory stick? It shouldn't of booted at all??