Putting master drive in as slave

My Windows XP computer died recently, and I am wanting to retrieve my files. Can I put my boot drive into another computer without screwing things up? I don't want to boot from it, just access the files from it.
Any tips or things to watch out for?

 

That will work. Make sure to change the jumper settings of the drive you are going to slave it to. Some drives need to set as Master with Slave or etc.

To copy the file you may have to do the following.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP

 

H jamesnw,

We can "shake hands ",that's exactly what happened to me recently.
Yes you can do that.
Be aware though that since each drive has a boot.INI,you can actually boot
from it,however you would have to add the drive to the boot.INI of the
master drive (C:\)
Anyway,watch out that the BIOS of the other machine doesn't do a flip on you,meaning, setting the slave as the first drive to boot from.
It shouldn't,but to make sure, when you boot up,go into the BIOS,
F2 or other key,depending on the machine.
(Try this before you actually connect the drive,so you know how to get into the BIOS quickly)
Check the boot order and correct if necessary.
The existing Master drive should be maintained as the first drive.
(or second,if you have a CD/DVD as a boot device)

HOWEVER,if you want to do things the easy way (at a cost )
use a USB to IDE or Sata adapter.
http://www.cooldrives.com/saandidehadr1.html

Pete.