Marooma, thanks. I will check that out before i do the format. Sounds helpful. Zep,(or anyone that may know), another question i have is, I think I read on the WD site something about after I reformat, that I would need to download the original files that were on the disk. I'm not too clear on that point as to what those files are. Does this sound like something I would need to do? Do I need those files in order to use the disk? I've tried asking on the WD site, but I don't find it too user friendly. I get dizzy trying to follow the links and lose track of where the helpful info is. Thanks

To start with, you can't just switch drives from one computer to another and expect it to boot to windows, unless the computers are the exact same make and model. You can put your C drive into the new computer and if you have a windows xp disc, do a repair install. If it asks for a product key, look on the case of the new computer for the sticker. If the new computer came with a HD and works, I'd just start transferring important data to it either with dvd or flash drives and eventually get it setup the way you like. The people that do a clean install are erasing the whole drive. Yes, a re-install will erase your entire C: drive, a repair install would leave your documents intact. You're going to need a windows xp disc to get started, also software needs to be installed to work, not just a simple transfer folders thing. You may be able to put your old C drive in the new computer, boot from the xp disc, go to the recovery console and fixboot or fixmbr and she may boot up. Don't know what windows genuine advantage or activation will do noticing your C drive has a different motherboard, video and ram.

I reformatted the My Book - which went smoothly. The copied a short video. Again - worked well. Now I'm copying a whole bunch of videos - and it's taking time. I'm copying about 10-15 hours of standard definition tv shows. So far, it's been over an hour. I have no idea how long it will take via USB2 connection. The 30 minute video took less than 5 minutes. I have follow-up questions. I wonder what the best way is to back up these files. I just opened up My Documents and right-clicked one at a time - then chose the option to "send to" and selected drive e: my book. I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I don't know what it is. I tried to highlight more than one file at a time (using the shift key) - but it didn't seem to want to let me highlight more than one at a time. I also wonder if I send a file to MY Book - does that mean it's moved to My Book and the original isn't on my PC - or is it copied there? Raven - I know I should know this by now, but I don't. How do I find my firefox profiles and bookmarks files so I can copy them to the external drive? Lastly, is there a way to copy files to the external drive in such a way that I can get prompted if the file already exists? so I don't make a copy and have 2 copies in there? with many files (like pictures), I may get a prompt that says the file already exists - should I overwrite it or skip. Is there anything like that when copying files to the external drive? At some point, should I bite the bullet and buy a software program to do this. Western Digital tries to give trial periods for the following software : Memeo Autobackup, Memeo Autosync. Any reason to get these? Or any other software? Also, when I reformatted the drive, it wiped the drive clean. Is there anything (drivers, software?) I would need to download from Western Digital (to replace anything I might have erased). I know that the proprietary software that's sometimes loaded with these things (like cameras, printers) may not be necessary at all. Thanks. Lynn.

The other laptop is a 9300 and it appears completely incompatable with mine so it is essentially out of the picture. I was looking at the 9300 manual and see that I would need the driver and windows reinstall disks if I were going in that direction.