I'd recommend that you get an external USB hard drive enclosure that uses IDE (EIDE). That will allow you to access all your data as before and you can continue to use the drive for backup/redundancy/expansion as required.
You may need to adjust the jumper settings on the hard drive. See the instructions usually on the hard drive label to set the device to master or cable select.
You may need to adjust the jumper settings on the hard drive. See the instructions usually on the hard drive label to set the device to master or cable select.
One of the hard drives includes the OS (XP Pro) will this cause any issues with the external hard drive?