External Enclosure

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Yopes4608 wrote:

I need to transfer everything from my old hard drive on my Dell Dimension 8100 to my new custom-built computer.  I have been told that the easiest way to do this is to purchase an external enclosure for the internal HD.  I have a couple questions since this is my first time doing this procedure.

 

1)  After transferring my stuff from the external enclosure, if I put the internal HD back into the Dimension 8100, will the system still boot up if Windows 2000 is the OS on the hard drive?

 

2) What sorts of things will I be able to transfer from the old computer to the new computer using the external enclosure?  Will programs such as Office and Norton Antivirus transfer over or do I need to re-install the programs on the new computer? Will games transfer over or do I need to re-install those too?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

1) Yes.

 

2) Programs?  No.  Including games.  No programs.

 

You're really wasting effort on this.  You should network the two comptuers together to transfer your data.  Removing the drive has no value.  A router for a high speed connection can easily, and cheaply, handle the job. 

 

Also note that any of your software that came on your 8100 would be OEM and NOT reinstallable on a different computer.  Any software that you bought since at retail may, or may not, be limited to 1 computer and may not be transferrable.

Hi Rick,

 

So how would I network the two computers together?  I'm on a DSL connection at home.

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Yopes4608 wrote:

Hi Rick,

 

So how would I network the two computers together?  I'm on a DSL connection at home.

 

With a router.  Costs about $20.  There should be one in your current high speed setup, otherwise you're exposing your computer too much.  You want the hardware firewall in a router.  There is a slim chance that your DSL modem includes a router, check the manual for it.

I did some research about networking two computers.  I have an ethernet card on both computers and read that a crossover cable can network two computers together.  What steps do I take to setup the network?  If the old computer is on Windows 2000, and the new computer is on Windows XP, will I still be able to network the two or will the files not transfer properly?  Also, how safe is it to transfer files between computers using a crossover cable as opposed to an external enclosure (corrupted files, incomplete transfers, etc.)? Thanks.