Drive 'compatibility' is pretty much a "non-issue". *Very* old PCs
> used, primarily, what were called MFM drives, Or sometimes a cousin
> thereof, called RLL. Newer generations -- meaning most 386/486 class
> machines, and everything past that -- use what is called IDE. IDE has
> gone through a number of changes, adding higher-performance options to
> the base technology.
My machine, a Pentium 120 (by HP) is from 1996, so I'm hopeful I could just transfer over the hard-drive. It would be easiest for me.
Then there is the issue of any software installed on the old drive.
> If that drive was in a machine running a MS operating system that
> includes the "Registry", most software will _not_ be usable if the
> disk is simply installed in a new machine, nor if the software is
> 'copied' from the old machine to the new one. Because the required
> "Registry" settings are not propagated to the Registry on the new > system.
Hmmm. My present machine is early Win95. I don't think any of my software would've used the registry when installed since they were for either Windows 3.1 or plain DOS. The DOS stuff was loaded by merely copying the file off of a diskette.
I have some manufacturer's original source diskettes, but I really don't want to load from scratch because I've made so many setting changes and customization to various products. For instance, I have Word 6.0, and I want to continue using exactly as I have it.
Thanks for your help!
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And don't, for one minute, buy into that Microsoft BS about how "this installation of (for example) Win 98 or Win 2000 will take about 45 minutes to an hour to install." I have never yet installed a new Microsoft OS in '45 minutes to an hour'. Most of the time I start one evening, and several hours later, completely nervous and upset set the thing aside until the next day and then go back to continue my work after a good night's sleep. Of course I have to install the networking components, etc as well. PAT]