Hi compluv welcome to the PCHF

You can do this - depending on what style the hard drive is.

Is it a SATA or IDE drive?

I would leave the current hard drive in there with windows and install the new hard drive as a secondary data/backup solution.

its a ide drive. are you saying to use my 30gb for my operating system on the master side & put my 100 gb on the slave? then just ghost everything including her stuff to the 100gb or visa versa? can i simply load the windows xp pro when i put it in the W3080 Emachine? not too familiar w/ this kind of setup. i know how install all the componants in a pc & load the drivers & set the jumpers. thanks for replying.

Not to ghost, but to just put storage stuff on there...
But on second thoughts - it will most likely be a faster hard drive...

Installing windows on the drive in the old computer MIGHT work...but rarely does because of the change in motherboard and may result in a BSOD.

It should only take an hour or so to install windows with all the drivers and what not.
Having your old 30gb drive as a slave will not cause any conflicts.

thanks! i'll try putting the 100gb in the p3 Emachine & load it. if it does'nt fly then i can always wipe it & try the other options. the problem is my wife would be afraid she will lose all her stuff. i keep telling her it will not. everytime i download software she asks me, will i lose all my stuff? i wish she would go to her moms for the weekend & leave me to it, so i can concentrate. she maks me nervous when i'm doing these kind of things. thanks again! oh! both drives are 7200 rpm's also forgot to mention, the reason i'm doing all this to her pc is cause she plans on getting her own website setup. she has figro. its a rare disease. she chats alot w/ her friends.

Hehe, no problems.

Make sure whenever you do the work (reinstalling windows) remove the old hard drive from power...that way there's no possible way to lose her stuff

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