External Hard Drive

[mtclimer]

Hello!
We have an older version of Autocad software that will not load on our new Dell XPS 400 running XP home Edition. This software is only compatible through Windows 98. My question is, could I purchase an external hard drive and load Windows 95 or 98 on it and use it to run this version of Autocad. If this will work, it would save use about $800.00 not having to buy the current upgrade and besides, we like this version better than the new. Also, would this hard drive be portable enough, or work on other PCs or even laptops. It appears that maybe some of these external drives are specific to laptops and I am wondering if we need to be careful when we buy. If you have specific recommendations about what to buy I would really appreciate your help. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Gary & Hallie Page
Vale, OR

[michaewlewis]

Travel Here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
Virtual PC would let you run Win98 inside Windows XP.

You could also set up a dual boot computer. Then, when you start your computer, you would be asked if you want to boot win98 or winxp

[dahlarbear]

We have an older version of Autocad software that will not load on our new Dell XPS 400 running XP home Edition. This software is only compatible through Windows 98.

Which is it?  Will not "install", will not "load" or will not "run"?  I thought Windows XP allows you to "run" things in compatibility mode (e.g. Windows 98, Windows 2000).  If it installs, you should be able to right click on the "executable" file (or a short cut to it) and somewhere (Properties?) there should be an option to select the compatible environment you want to run under.

[patio]

I agree with Dahlarbear on this ...it should run fine in compatibility mode.

[dahlarbear]

Hey, I'm not guaranteeing it will work, I'm just suggesting they try it if they haven't already.

[patio]

It'll work....just tested with an older ver. of AutoCad on a Win2K machine.