Need help migrating win XP data to win 8. So far, all attempts have failed

Need help migrating win XP data to win 8. So far, all attempts have failed

Just bought a new Windows 8 Asus desktop. Backed up my old 250gb windows
xp hard drive. I want to transfer all of the data from XP to W8, and after
researching I assumed the best way would be to use Microsoft's "Windows
Easy Transfer" Utility. Theoretically I would run the app from Windows XP,
send all the data to my external drive, and then import from the external
to my New PC. Unfortunately, I need to start the utility from WITHIN
windows xp, and I'd rather not dust off the old pc in case it fails/melts
the cpu (that was the reason for initial upgrade).
SO, i need to boot windows xp off of this hard drive. I tried connecting
it via a dock to my New Windows 8 Asus PC and changing the bios settings
to support IDE, but i learned that XP shuts off all USB connections on
boot, so that was a no go.
Now i'm trying to boot the XP hard drive via a virtual machine, like
virtualbox or VMware, but I can't seem to find any instructions (that
aren't for linux).
SO, in conclusion, here are the major questions...
Is this even the best way to transfer all of my files to the new PC? Is
there a better backup/restore system for it?
Is it even possible to boot a windows XP hard drive in Windows 8 from a
virtual machine?
This is off-topic, but what is the best way to clone the Old HDD? I used
Acronis True Image (The free western digital version) to do so, but is
there a better app for it?