I purchased a new laptop last night. Of course, it is loaded with Vista,
which I do not want.

I'm planning on moving all my files over to the laptop, wiping my old HD and
then using it as external storage.

My question is this, can I:

1.) Install my old copy of Windows 98
2.) Upgrade to my currently in-use copy of XP
3.) Move all my files
4.) Activate XP on laptop (there's a 30 day grace period)

Is something in there going to cause a sticking point?

Also, is there a better option that I'm just not thinking of?