Had some major problems with my original hard drive, tried to repair xp and ended up not being able to boot at all. I connected a second hard drive and installed xp so I could get the data I wanted off the original but got the same problem again. I still have all the data on the first hard drive but I can't transfer it onto the new one without getting what I believe is a virus. I have scanned the disk with nortons but no viruses are found. Anyone know how I might save my old files without the problem/virus before reformatting, your help would be greatly appreciated.

Use another virus scanner. Try the free online scan from www.trendmicro.com.

Furthermore, it is not possible to "get" a virus just by copying files. It is opening files that gives you virii. What data do you need from the old drive? There are no viruses in mp3s or movie files or any images.

Thanks, I will try that scan. I am only trying to get some mp3's and photos. I have formatted my new hard disk again and installed xp without connecting the old hard disk at all and everything seemed fine until I installed service pack 2. Now I get freezes and cannot browse the net for longer than a couple of minutes. Could sp2 be the problem? If so, how can I fix it?

SP2 can most certainly be a problem. Did you install SP2 right after installing Xp itself? Did you put ony any other low level software like virus scanner or a firewall?

Make sure you have the latest versions of all kinds of software like that and also update all kinds of drivers with the latest version from the manufacturer.

Install only one program/driver at a time and see what breaks.

There is a chance this helps albeit a lim one. For many people there is no fixing SP2 and they have settled to SP1

Will settle for sp1. Many thanks for making my first visit here beneficial.