transfer hard drive to a new puter

1-Simply remove the hard disk from the old laptop and place it in the new one. This is however not recommended as windows XP (or other) will need to redetect all hardware components.

2-Buy a crossover network cable with which you can connect both laptops. Then set up a network between the laptops (this goes practically automatic in windows XP). In windows file explorer you can then select sharing by right clicking on a map or disk drive. This will enable you to see that map/drive on the other laptop. For more detailed info on setting up a network do a search (like "setting up a home network") on a search engine (google for instance). This should return plenty results.

3-Burn all the things you need from the old hard disk on a CD, copy them on a USB stick or external hard disk, ... and then copy them on your new HDD by connecting the device or media you copied to your new laptop.

You can also ghost your old hard drive with a utility such as Norton's Ghost, and put an exact image of your old hard drive on your new one. It is kind of time comsuming, but the end result is the identical data of your old hard drive on your new one. Did it last week, so it does work even for a novice like me. hope this helps.