| Thank you for replying. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear in this last
| post. The other hard drive is an extra one, with all the files from my main
| hard drive (C) copied onto it. My computer OS is Windows XP.
Just copying files over to a new drive does not make it work as a system disk. There are "cloning"
programs that will do this.
The you have to switch places on the cable (ata drives) if the drives are jumpered for "cable
select" identification, or you have to jumper the drives for "master" and "slave" as required. Not
a difficult task, but not something for a real novice to try either.
|
| My husband has told me that when he bought me the additional hard drive, he
| used software tools to make that drive a "system disk". But he has never
| actually tried to convert the additional hard drive into the main drive. So
| he doesn't know if it will work.
|
| The Vista I'm referring to is an entirely different computer (my hubby's
| laptop) that I'm using to write to you, since my Internet won't work. I
| considered using this computer for my email and that's why I brought up that
| subject. I'm sorry if I made it sound confusing - like I have both XP and
| Vista on my computer on different drives. I will not consider switching my
| email over to this computer (with Vista) unless my own computer "crashes and
| burns".
Okay, but bringing your email messages, and address book, is not a big chore.
|
| Thank you again, Richard and Mark for trying to help me out of this mess. I
| appreciate it!
|
| "Richard in AZ" wrote:
|
| >
| > | > |I posted about my problem below (cannot get Internet or Help to work, etc.)
| > | I'm a novice, so please forgive my lack of knowledge. I have all the files
| > | on my main hard drive (C) copied onto another hard drive in my computer. I
| > | know I should have done a backup - "famous last words".
| > |
| > | It has been suggested that I swap the cables on my hard drives and in
| > | effect, make the other hard drive the main one. Could this work? The other
| > | programs (Word, Excel, Windows Explorer, etc.) still work on the computer. I
| > | would use Internet on this computer but I can't save my email files, as I
| > | have Outlook Express on that computer and this one has Windows Mail (Vista
| > | operating system).
| > |
| > | Sorry for the long post. If anyone can suggest anything, I would really
| > | appreciate the help.
| >
| > If your word "files" means your personal documents that you created, then yes you can get these
to
| > work on a new computer, assuming you have the same program (that you used to create these files)
| > installed on the new computer.
| >
| > If you mean the program files (like Word, Excel, etc.) then no these programs will not run from
the
| > other disk.
| >
| > Swapping cables most likely will not work either. (However, you don't provide enough
information to
| > accurately say.)
| > The "other hard drive" would have to have been setup as a "System Disk" in this computer.
| >
| > It sounds like you had Windows XP on the computer, and then upgraded to Vista. Did you have XP
| > operating off the "other hard drive"? Or did you install Vista onto the existing hard drive
and
| > the other drive is just a spare?
| >
| > You can transfer your Outlook Express mail over to Windows Mail if you saved the complete
folder
| > where Outlook Express had been saving your email. On XP, this folder was typically a hidden
folder
| > located on the C drive, then inside the "Documents and Settings" folder, then inside the
"User's"
| > (that could be your name) folder, then in the "local settings" folder, then inside the
"applications
| > data" folder, then inside the "identities" folder, then inside the "{long number} folder, then
| > inside the "Microsoft" folder. The final folder you want is named "outlook express".
| >
| > If you have this folder saved, and can see it in the Vista Explorer, you can import these
messages
| > using Windows Mail.
| > Let us know if you have this folder and we will tell you how to import them.
| >
| >
| >
