If it's too big for a single floppy, you can use WinZip to create a zip file that spans multiple disks.

Ha ha ha. The old PC does not have a working floppy drive. Its CD drive is also spotty, and that is not writeable anyway. If I owned an external CD burner, I would be all set, but I do not.

I could probably recover most of what I want from my old backups, if I could find them. I misplaced the computer box in the move, and I know it is around here somewhere, for all values of "somewhere" that are invisible.

(If I had the comp box, I would also have the MS Office software and a CD of files from my previous employment -- movie files and some personal stuff. The only computer-oriented CDs I have found so far are one full of vids and a video of Casper from two summers ago.)

Don't be a space cadet, people! Learn from my example.

resists the urge to jump into car, drive over, and forcibly move drive into the new computer

Seriously, though, you can actually pay people to copy stuff off your old hard drive into the new one! Call up a couple of the little stores in Somerville, like Satellite Computer Repair. This stuff is easy-peasy for them, and should be priced accordingly.

Moving a hard drive yourself - [link]

When last we joined our intrepid heroine, she had taken a break to bake a pumpkin pie (something she knows how to do without making things blow up).

In this exciting installment of Jane's Crazily Uneven Handiness, the cover of OldPC has been removed, and Jane paused to knit a whole new cat with the amount of cat hair found inside!

After that exciting adventure, Jane discovered that her OldPC has a side-panel, that makes it very hard to get at what looks like the hard drive. The side-panel removed, she discovers that the internal/harder-to-reach Phillips screw head is partially stripped. (Thanks, original builder!!)

How glad is our heroine to have inherited a cast-off "mini-tools" kit from her granddad? Very! How irritatingly difficult is it to wangle out the screw without stripping the head the rest of the way?

Tune in next week, when our heroine finds out!

I have some Outlook Express files (oldish like 2 years old) that were moved out of their original registry folders and I need to move them to a new computer. Any suggestions on what I need to do to open them and archive the email?

After that exciting adventure, Jane discovered that her OldPC has a side-panel, that makes it very hard to get at what looks like the hard drive.

Take a look at the assembly the hard drive is attached to. The entire assembly may be removable, which might make it easier to get at the side screws. In fact on some older machines, you may have to remove the assembly to get at some of the screws. Ping me if you need advice.

Next week happened faster than I'd thought. I now have a 6.4 gig HD in my hot little hands, and for good measure I removed extra screws from the old broken floppy and CD drives, so I don't have to worry about the stripped one. (DX was right, that disconnecting the little attachment doohickeys made it easier to open the side=panel. The "taking stuff apart" part is actually kind of fun, and except for the HD itself, I can break all this stuff with no problem. The installation, NSM.)

Now the question is, how do I install the old HD into the new PC without turning off the new PC, so I can follow instructions??

What, you mean I should be printing out the instructions DX linked to? (My printer is in the basement.) It might be wise if I thought of these things before I started, huh?

for good measure I removed extra screws from the old broken floppy and CD drives, so I don't have to worry about the stripped one

Heh, she's cannibalizing old computer parts. One of us! One of us!