Move external hard drive (Vista)

[Caesar3]

I bought a new HP computer that runs Vista to replace an older XP machine. My old system has a Seagate external hard drive that connects via USB. I use that drive for backups, among other things, and it passed Microsoft's Vista compatibility test. In my ideal world, I would shut down my XP machine, disconnect it from everything, and plug the external hard drive into the new Vista machine. Does that ideal world exist, or must I backup all the stuff that's on the external drive and reformat it before I install it on the Vista machine?

[Pilgrim]

USB devices are "hot swappable". Thus, you would power off the external enclosure (assuming it has a power switch), plug in the USB cable somewhere on your new Vista machine and simply switch the power on. That's it..... done!

Jeff

[bigaldoc]

This isn't meant to contradict Jeff, but I've never really been absolutely sure about these hot swappable USB drives - I also have two attached. So, just for the "belt and suspenders" safety of it, when I'm about to unhook one from a machine, I go to the "Safely Remove" icon which I keep in the system tray. Probably isn't necessary, but it makes me feel a bit better.

[Caesar3]

Boy, that's good to hear! My chief worry was that the switch from XP to Vista might introduce a new dimension.

[Caesar3]

Good advice! I've made it a habit to use that icon for my thumb drives, too. Thanks for the response!