I want that New XP feeling on my New Mac!

I have been using a Dell for 5 years with WinXP Pro. After a while, some things have gotten corrupted and some programs that I want to continue to use don't work quite right. Well, I just got a new Mac Pro, and I want to carry over most of my data and some programs that aren't available on the Mac, without retaining my old, somewhat buggy Windows settings.

I would like to create a new VM with a fresh install of WinXP, transfer some select programs and data to the "new" WinXP and get a new lease on life with WinXP/MacOSX coexistence, without worrying about some of my XP "baggage."

Is there an easy way to do this, as the transfer seems to convert the whole XP volume to a VM. Do I have to make a new XP VM and transfer programs/files from the old to the new, or make a new XP VM, install the programs I want and transfer my files?

I hope my question is clear. Thanks in advance.

 

Make a new VM, install XP to the VM, install the programs, then copy your files.

You can boot your Dell, turn on File Sharing, and copy the files over the network.

Or you can put the hard disk from your Dell into the Mac Pro, then add a 2nd hard disk to the VM configuration and use the Boot Camp option to point to your Dell hard disk partitions. The VM will boot from the new installation of XP (probably drive C:\), and can copy the files from your Dell hard disk (probably drive D:\).

 

I didn't know how putting my old hard drive in the Mac would work, but that makes sense. I'll try that. Thanks!