What about the warranty?

Hello Tim,
Thanks for bringing that up.

I think it would be highly advisable to check the system warranty and to determine what limitations the manufacture may place on opening the case or adding additional hardware to the system.

Is there any way at all to do this without cracking the case of the new machine? My old one recently died and all i have left is the hard drive

Hello David,
You can place the hard disk in a powered enclosure and connect it via USB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145133

This is just one of many models available.

Hope this helps, Ron

Great, that was exactly what i had in mind. thanks for your help

You are welcome David. I hope your data transfer goes smoothly.

All the best, Ron

i tried this prior to seeing your article-my brothers pc died-but disc was ok,he wanted his [unbacked up] data.disc had 10 gig of os/applications-but no ‘apparent’ data.on trying to boot from his disc-got his xp not registered on my pc-but also asked for his PASSWORD.i assume my xp cannot access his data ‘cos his windows requires a different password[which i have-but cannot input 'cos his xp isn't registered to my pc].am i misunderstanding what i should be doing-or is what i’m getting what is expected with xp
my next move-when i get enough courage, is to try and delete his password

Hi Christopher,
Thanks for sharing your comments. Best of luck retrieving the data. Ron

Already done everything except the last four words. How do I begin the transfer process? The old hard drive is XP and the new one is Vista. I can find everything on the old one but I don’t know how to get it to the new one.

Hi Dave,
Two options. One is to use Copy & Paste.
Second, depending on the types of file, you can also export then import files.

If you still are having problems, try the forum at LG. They can provide you with step by step help.

http://help.lockergnome.com

Hope this helps, Ron

i transferred my files from my old computer that died using a powered enclosure easily and successfully. However, it denies me access to my children’s files (even if they try from their accounts with the same passwords). One of them has a lot of school stuff she wants and the other wants her itunes library. Worse, my husbands work files are nowhere to be found. Old computer is windows XP, new is Vista. We learned our lesson about backing up files. Any suggestions?

Hello Jenny,
I found this post from Rick Rogers a fellow MVP from this link:
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-installation-setup/102223-files-not-accessible-after-easy-transfer.html

It’s one of two things:

1) If it’s a Vista system that you are getting the files from, then you are
accessing the wrong folders. Vista does not use “My…” except as a
placeholder. The files would be under the user profile as simply Documents,
Downloads, Music, etc.

2) If it’s from an XP/2000 installation, then you need to take ownership of
the folders before you can access them. Right click the folder and select
properties. Go to the Security tab and click advanced. Move to the Owner tab
and click edit. Locate and select your user account, then enable the box to
propagate to all subfolders and containers. Click apply and let it run.
Close the security dialogs and retry accessing the folder.

See if this works for you and let us know the results.

Regards, Ron

You are a genius! The XP instructions worked perfectly, we found all our files and transferred them successfully. THANK YOU!

Hello jenny,
Glad it worked for you OK. Thanks for letting us know.
Regards, Ron

This will copy all files, but most applications will
not run in the new computer. You will have
to reinstall your applications.

Hi,
I did all the instructions, but I have a problem when I try to open my old HD windows tollme that I need to format the HD and I can’t open it. I was using win XP but in my new PC i’m using XP media center. Some can help me please….

Hi,

My hard drive failed and I installed a new hard drive. I cannot find the ‘PINS” you are referring to. I would really like to try to transfer some files, do you know if I would be able to with a failed drive.

Thanks,

amy

Hello Amy,
If your drive has failed totally than you may not be able to access your files. The PINS I am referring to are located at the rear of the drive by the power and ribbon connectors for an IDE drive.

Hope this helps.

Ron, I’ve got an OLD Gateway 2000 - Pentium 133 - Windows 95 - that I’d like to retire. Unfortunately, it has some files on it that I’ve never transferred to my new computer. I’ve tried using a powered enclosure, but even though my computer said it found new hardware, the drive didn’t show up anywhere, so I couldn’t access the files. Any idea what’s going on and how to solve my problem?

Thanks — Ursula

You can try to convert your file system:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307881

Ron, you seem to be the guy with all the answers. Recently my computer got infected with a virus. When I try and boot my computer I get the blue screen even when I try and boot it safe mode. The error message I get is (stop: 0×0000008E). I did some research and found a site that explains what it is and how to remove  http://www.symantec.com/security_respons…) . It calls for starting the computer using Windows Recovery Console. I tried but even when I boot with the OS disk, I still get the blue screen. Is this something that I can get around, or do I need to toss the 5 year old computer, get a new one and transfer my files?

Thanks
GTP

Hello GTP,
First go into your BIOS settings and confirm that the system is set to boot to CD first. Once this is done, try the CD again and see if recovery console now works.

You may also wish to view this excellent site to do a Windows XP repair.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Make sure you follow the steps exactly.

Still having issues and need further help? Try this forum run by another MVP:

http://www.greyknight17.com/bb/

All he best, Ron