When I had to transfer over a network with a 10Mbit connection and it was a nightmare: 20 min / gig.

I say install both drives and copy HDD to HDD.

I don't mind tinkering as long as I have instructions. I already have a crossover cable.

I'm going to transfer from Win98 to WinXP

"actually, the easiest (and by far the fastest) way is to connect the HDD that ha s the music on it as the slave on the system that you want them on, but the operating system on the receiving end has to be able to read the partition on the music drive...i.e. if you have XP you're fine, this will transfer files so much faster it's not even funny, and it's easier to set up than a network."

Is there anything else I need to do other than set the drive to slave? Should I put the power supply at higher voltage? Anything at all?

I think the slave drive idea is best as well