I have an old computer with a windows 98 o/s. I bought an external harddrive so I can free up some space to install xp. Is there any software out there to install a seagate FreeAgent 500 GB harddrive onto an older version of windows????

Remove (or take to your local computer shop) the Win 98 hard drive from the computer.
Put this drive in an external USB drive enclosure.
Plug this enclosure into a Windows XP vintage computer.
Copy the data to this computer.

Save Win 98 drive for posterity!

Regards,
GuruTim

remove harddrive from computer make it external by casing it then keep for scanning, if any virus found then remove it.place the **** to pc then install window XP again, then it will detect

When you install a new harddrive, it has no Operating System on it.
Windows XP and Windows Vista, are examples of an Operating System.

Each laptop manufacturer, has their own system of changing a laptop harddrive. Some allow you to press a key or two, to put the laptop in a state where it will save the basic Operating System files, and when you install the new harddrive, it will transfer them over to it.

Some laptop manufacturers do have this option.

You either have to take the harddrive out, install it into an external enclosure for a harddrive, (Uses a USB cable) Then attach the external enclosure via the USB cable, to another computer, and use a 'mirror' imaging program to save the Operating System to that computer.

Then the new harddrive is installed in that external enclosure, and the Operating System is 'mirrored' over to it.

Just information for you, as you cannot do this now with a crashed harddrive.
Your option now, is to buy a genuine copy of the Operating System you had on the laptop, and install it.
Not what you wanted to hear, huh?

You need to buy whatever version of Windows XP it had, (WinXP Home or WinXP Pro), or Windows Vista.
If it was Windows Vista, I suggest getting at least the Windows Vista Home Premium version.

I personally prefer Xp over Vista.
Tigerdirect.com, and Newegg.com, have these.
Look for Software>Operating Systems.

OR, you can simply put Ubuntu Linux on it for free.

Please follow this excellent guide XP Pro Clean Install to lead you through the process.
Check first to be sure your system meets the requirements for an installation of XP.
Also make sure beforehand that you back up any documents or files you wish to save from the old drive, because you will not have access to them after installation. Make sure you have a CD with Drivers for the hardware installed on your system; you will need these to access the internet once you install the new OS. Also be sure to have downloaded AntiVirus software installation files so you can load this onto the new system before going online.
You could, if you choose, buy a new hard drive and install your existing drive as a slave to the new master on your existing computer. In this way, you will still have access to all your old files and documents, without having to back them up.
Best of luck, and enjoy XP!

If this information solves your problem, or answers your question, please take just a moment to rate this post...thanks!!

install XP next to win 98 on a separate partition, XP will automaticlly create a bootoption. If not possible, install XP over win98. documents etc will remain intact if you have enough diskspace.

If both are no option, create a backup from windows98 and than copy that one to any USB drive. Backing up from 98 takes veryvery long and so doesn copying to USB.

It may be due to the file system.  If formated as FAT32 files larger than 4gb may not transfer.  Try reformatting as NTFS to fix the problem.

Windows 98 don't have pre-installed drivers for mass storage, like external hdd, pen drive, flush memory etc.

So, you should install the driver for your external hdd then win 98 will recognize it. And you can use it. For you external drive driver you can surf your external manifacturer site.

If any problem Ask me.

Thanks
Iqbal

The problem may be that you have too much space (sounds dumb I know) Windows 95/98 originally did not support drives as big as we have now, resize your drive down to less than 2GB and retry the install, or create a partition for the Game that si smaller. If you are running XP/Vista, you may be able to resize with disk Management, otherwise there is third party software like Partition Magic...

I hope this helped.