Cloned HD into new Q6600 box

Hello, I hope this is in the right section.


Background:
I do major multitasking, eg: 3-4 Adobe apps, email, chrome, all at the same time for work. No gaming, nor overclocking.
Am considering a new processor+mobo which will allow me to expand RAM (over 8GB RAM) in the future, when I upgrade to 64bit. Also would like to make use of the Q6600 in general now with just XP Pro. New box so I have my old for backup.

Goal:
Would like to get my current main HD contents (Samsung) cloned into a new WD Caviar Black 1TB (have already), and use that as the main drive in a new Q6600 system. This new WD Caviar 1TB (hooked up with eSATA external case now) has been formatted blank and is ready to go.

Current specs:
Dell Dimension E310
p4 2.8 GHz, 2 GB RAM
System BIOS: 7 Phoenix ROM BIOS Plus Version 1.10 A04 (04/04/06)
Samsung HD drive

Target Preassembled system (have not bought yet):
MOBO: Biostar TP45 (allows up to 16 GB later)
Q6600
4 GB DDR2/800
NVIDIA GForce 7200 GS (just to get multiple monitors going)
XtremeGear CPU Fan
2 case fans
( power supply, everything else, etc )
*comes with a small unformatted drive, which I will just put aside and hopefully use elsewhere

The steps seem to be:
1. Clone the Dell's Samsung drive over to external eSATA WD 1TB drive (whats the best program to do this?)
2. Swap cloned WD Cav 1TB into new Q6600 box (never done this before, wondering if I can make use of the eSATA or will I need to install normally?)

Will the cloned XP based OS likely be ok in the new machine? Any tips?
Is this the best way to proceed?

Any help is appreciated.

Oof. Thought it sounded too easy.
Good idea with the big drive.

Thanks for the reply.

Back up your data and do a fresh install, besides fresh installs always work better, also look at getting a ati hd4350 instead of geforce7200, it will do you far better in the long run, its more powerfull, uses less energy and will even connect to a hdtv with sound passed through hdmi, and its not too much more.