Is it possible to add a second, brand new hard-drive, format it and install Win98SE to it from CD without removing the main (Primary) drive?. Or do I need to remove the Primary drive and install the new (secondary) drive in order to FDISK and install the O/S?.

Basically, what I need to do is to replace certain programs and data from the Primary Disc (since it's starting to fail) onto a new hard drive. Since there are programs causing problems / not required on the primary H/D direct cloning using Norton Ghost etc is out. I just need to transfer certain programs and hardware drivers, Email Files etc direct from one drive to the other, and the easiest way would be to install the new drive, Format and add the O/S then take my time transfering files & data from one drive to the other. Then I can bin the old HD and use the second drive as the Primary. Is this idea possible??

Cheers

yes, but the best thing for dual booting is that you always want to install the earlier os version first then the later version, for example, always install windows 2000 first then install windows xp.........

that would prevent error, but since this is on a whole different drive, you could probably install it in any order but i'm not sure........

Yes you can do it.

That's exactly what I had to do when my HDD was playing up.

I simply put the new one in as the 2ndry drive and did FDISK etc to the new "D" drive and loaded the O/S and simply transferred the files across.
Then removed the old HDD and set the new one to the primary and Bingo.....all sorted!

You don't even need to make it a dual boot, just start up your comp from the old comp and copy and paste the files you need to your new hard drive (after installing the os)