WinXP upgrade (complicated question)

OK, I FINALLY got through to Dell and asked the final questions about upgrading to WinXP, and I found a workaround from bellsouth that should make my modem work on WinXP. BUT, I want to be safe. I have a theory on how to do it, but I want to know if it would work.


My Dell drive has 13.3 GB saved on it. I have a Maxtor with 23 GB free that is incompatible with WinME. I am going to install the Dell drive into the computer with the Maxtor, and copy EVERY file onto the Maxtor. Then, I will install the WinXP upgrade on the Dell. If it works, great.

If it doesn't work it is bad. If the modem is incompatible with WinXP, I have to revert to WinME, which probably requires a reformat and loss of data. However, I have a theory. I need someone to tell me if this theory is true. I know if I drag and drop the files from the Maxtor onto the Dell drive, WinME will not load, because I would have to do a bit copy of the original drive and get the IPL on the drive. HOWEVER, if I were to do a clean install of WinME, and THEN drag and drop EVERY file back, wouldn't the drag and drop overwrite all the files from the new WinME and run just like the old computer? I know the registry is stored in files, and the .dll's would get copied over, so I don't see any reason why it would work.

Am I right or wrong, and if I'm wrong, what do you suggest I do? I REALLY don't want to lose data from either hard drive, both have important stuff on them.