Redeveloped a site in php from classic ASP - 301 options?

[wilsonf1]

Hi there I have created a php website based on a classic ASP site that is still live. I have ported over a lot of content (the content I really care about and is still useful) There are however a fair few pages on the ASP site that I don't want to import - it's not worth the time converting it all. I don't want to generate 100's of 404's when I flick to the PHP server. They'll also be loads of images from Google images I won't be copying across. Is there anything I can do on a more global site level to 301 any 404's to the home page, or similar? Perhaps using the htacess file? Not sure how to tackle this. I know Google Webmaster Tools is going to think a load of my content is broken until it de-indexes the irrelevant stuff....

[Ingolme]

I believe 404 is a much better response than a 301 leading to the home page. A 301 leading to the page's new location is good, of course. If the page no longer exists then search engines need to know it.

[justsomeguy]

You can redirect 404s if you want to though: http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=htaccess+redirect+404+to+homepage&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest