I would simply copy everything from the old drive to one of your other
drives and it might be a good idea to also buy a USB 2.0 hard drive
(you can get 300+GB's for a song these days) and make a second BU copy
of your current drive over to it and keep this drive permanently as a
BU hard drive.
Once you KNOW your data is there on the other hard drive(s), wipe the
old drive and do a full reinstall. Once you have it set up, you can
start reinstalling applications from either the CD's or from the exec
files that reside on the backup drives.
Outlook can be a tricky reinstall as far as recreating your data and
settings on a new drive. For Outlook Express there is a very nice very
reliable program that will fully reinstall Outlook express from a
backup that you make through the program--not sure if there is a
similar program for Outlook, although the "im****t" data feature might
simply be the answer. Anyway, it's called Outlook Express Backup
Wizard and I have used it many times and it works very well.
The main thing is that you have a full copy of your old drive on at
least one, but preferably 2, backup HD's before you start anything. I
would avoid DVDRW as a backup as the media in my experience is
unreliable especially across different machines and DVD drives.
Regular DVDR should be OK but you're obviously limited in the amount
of data you can back up, whereas the USB HD's are very fast and
reliable.
On Jan 10, 5:33=A0pm, "recotech" <sdd...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I apologize in advance if any of this doesn't make sense (due to my
> ignorance) but I need some help. =A0I presently have a computer I built
in=
> 2002 or 2003 (can't remember exactly) running XP Home. =A0I have both
all =
my
> personal stuff (Office XP, internet stuff, etc.); but I also use it for
> running loads of music software. I am planning on building a new box to
be=
> used solely for music applications which I will transfer my music apps
to.=
> My question is this. =A0I would basically like to reinstall all my
persona=
l
> stuff (with a clean install of the OS with SP2) back onto the original
> computer, getting rid of a bunch of stuff I rarely use or don't need at
al=
l.
> My problem is that I don't know how to do this safely. =A0I want to
insure=
> that files aren't lost and that I don't need to get the Comcast tech
back
> here to get me back online with their cable service. =A0I want to
protect =
the
> integrity of all my MS Outlook data and any other personal data of that
> sort. =A0I do have hard drives available to handle any tem****ary
transfer =
of
> data, etc. but I just don't know the procedure. =A0Any and all help
would =
be
> greatly appreciated. =A0Perhaps just a suggestion as to a website I
could
> visit for guidance and/or any utility program suggestions. =A0I thank
anyo=
ne
> in advance for any help in this matter.
>
> Cheers
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