SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 Not using answer file for migration

[DanielN]

Hi Guys,

Until now my company has installed SBS 2003 setups for our clients as we
have held of until SBS 2008/Exchange 2007 bugs etc have been sorted as we all
know it takes MS a while untill the products are stable.

We are now looking at moving one of our clients over to SBS 2008 on brand
new hardware.

I dont have an issue with Installing SBS 2008 as I have now done it a couple
of times for new installs but never when migrating from SBS 2003.

I have seen that there is a migration path using the answer file. The thing
is the setup we have at the moment is old bogged down and full of rubbish and
we could really do with a fresh install. Yes I know all the users will need
to be re-created, all the data copied across and folder shares re-created
etc. But how can I move the exchange stuff? I really want to keep the old and
new completely seperate and not plug in the new server to the old domain. Can
I for example mount the exchange databases from backup as recovery stores in
exchange 2007 and import/merge them or am I dreaming?

Also I know when installing exchange 2007 as a seperate server solution it
asks you if you will be having outlook 2003 clients connecting as this client
will be but I dont recall SBS 2008 asking this question. Can I turn on this
feature on as you can in seperate server solution.

If anyone has any help and advice on this scenario would be much appreciated.

I am sorry if my questions seems silly to you gurus!

Thanks for any help,

Dan