I tried the long way, by just finding the files, copy them to the new server and try to recreate the database using the control files sql script.

but 8i control file is not compatible to 11gr1 control files.

so i am going to cretate a virtual machine and do a dummy test with the exp & imp ?

just a few questions:

1) when you install oracle 11gr1 database, what is the default password for sysdba,system, ..etc

2) my exp command looks like this on my oracle 8i:
exp system/ FULL=y file=.dmp log=exp.log CONSISTENT=y

what do i use for the imp command:
imp ?/? FULL=y file=.dmp log=imp.log CONSISTENT=Y