files and settings transfer wizard. can i do this?

[Ferris]

i have win98 and XP Pro on a 20gig hd split into two 10gig approx partitions, dual boot system.

im getting a new 7200rpm 40 gig today to add to my system, and want to use it for a new install of XP Pro, whilst keeping my old hard drive still connected with the old OS's still there as backups just in case my new XP Pro install goes tits up and i cant get back in.

my question:

can i use the files and settings transfer wizard to copy over all my details from my old XP Pro settings on my C: drive to my new hard drive with a fresh XP install? is that how it works?

also, will a notice a significant speed up with a 7200rpm hd?

thanks in advance.

[Gameguru]

Yes...and Yes(I Think).

You can use the files and settings transfer to save all of you important info and transfer them over to your new install of XP. It will give you an option of which computer it is, ie "This is the computer I want to transfer from" or "This is the computer I want to transfer to". Just save the files that you want on a folder on your old HD and after you install XP on your new drive, you can just point it to that folder and import all your settings.

Alternatively, you could use Norton ghost and just ghost your current instal of XP over to your new HD. It would only take a small amount of time and you wouldn't have to re-install all of your other progs. The downside to this is that if you have any problems, they will be present on your new HD as well.

Speed increase; if you currently have a 5400rpm UDMA33 HD and you go to a 7200rpm UDMA100 HD(and your controller supports UDMA100) you should see quite a jump in performance. If the both are running UDMA33 or 66, You will still see a marginal speed improvement due to the faster seek time on the 7200rpm drive.