Dual boot vs dual hard drives?

[Guest]

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it, but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is: "Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Rich Barry]

Richard, how large are your hard drives? A dual boot using one drive
for both OS's would be very easy to setup.
Just install Win98 first. You can use the second drive for your CAD and
other programs. I would use FAT32 for both
OS's. This way you can access WinXP from Win98 which can be very handy at
times. If you are familiar with FDisk
you can create two partitions otherwise I think XP will create a
partition during install. XP will install it's bootloader on
the Win98 partition giving you a Menu at bootup to select either one. I
am partial to dual boots though. On one of my
drives I have WinMe, Win2000pro, WinXPpro, WinXPpro2 and Fourteen Linux
Distros. But then again I'm nuts.

 

[Len Segal]

Richard,

Personally I do NOT like dual boot systems, since if you have a problem
(corruption, etc.) in one OS, it can adversely affect the other one also and
T/S problems gets a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Many will
disagree with me here, but I've BTDT and then decided to take an alternative
course of action.

I have a few systems (used for testing) with removable HDD trays. This way I
have one OS/drive and just remove the drive, insert the other one and boot
up. Some of the best removable trays are made by CRU, Inc. and you can find
them in some of the bigger computer stores.
http://www.cruinc.com/

Thus you can have your WinXP system for most things and separately a system
with Win98 and your CAD program.

Is it safe to assume that you've tried WinXP's Compatibility settings tab
for the CAD program under WinXP and found that it didn't work properly for
you? If you haven't tried this first, that would be my first recommendation
(rather than using dual drives/OS).

--

Regards,
Len Segal, MCP
Microsoft - MVP
--------------
My reply address is intentionally wrong to reduce SPAM Email.
NOTE: We do not respond to unsolicited Email support questions,
please post questions in newsgroup.

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Walter Clayton]

As an alternative, look at Virtual PC or similar. You can then run the app
concurrently.

True multi-booting into a DOS/9x environment is going to be problematic. The
hardware is rapidly outstripping the abilities of those platforms to
support.

--
Walter Clayton
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org

Richard, how large are your hard drives? A dual boot using one drive
for both OS's would be very easy to setup.
Just install Win98 first. You can use the second drive for your CAD and
other programs. I would use FAT32 for both
OS's. This way you can access WinXP from Win98 which can be very handy
at times. If you are familiar with FDisk
you can create two partitions otherwise I think XP will create a
partition during install. XP will install it's bootloader on
the Win98 partition giving you a Menu at bootup to select either one. I
am partial to dual boots though. On one of my
drives I have WinMe, Win2000pro, WinXPpro, WinXPpro2 and Fourteen Linux
Distros. But then again I'm nuts.

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time
on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to
approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply Rich, I have a 120GB HD, on a Pentium 4/2.4GHz
processer, with 512 mb ram, using WindowsXP Home.

Richard, how large are your hard drives? A dual boot using one drive
for both OS's would be very easy to setup.
Just install Win98 first. You can use the second drive for your CAD and
other programs. I would use FAT32 for both
OS's. This way you can access WinXP from Win98 which can be very handy at
times. If you are familiar with FDisk
you can create two partitions otherwise I think XP will create a
partition during install. XP will install it's bootloader on
the Win98 partition giving you a Menu at bootup to select either one. I
am partial to dual boots though. On one of my
drives I have WinMe, Win2000pro, WinXPpro, WinXPpro2 and Fourteen Linux
Distros. But then again I'm nuts.

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply Walter. Unfortunately, I am using WinXP Home and my
understanding is that VPC requires Win2K or WinXPPro.

As an alternative, look at Virtual PC or similar. You can then run the app
concurrently.

True multi-booting into a DOS/9x environment is going to be problematic. The
hardware is rapidly outstripping the abilities of those platforms to
support.

--
Walter Clayton
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org

Richard, how large are your hard drives? A dual boot using one drive
for both OS's would be very easy to setup.
Just install Win98 first. You can use the second drive for your CAD and
other programs. I would use FAT32 for both
OS's. This way you can access WinXP from Win98 which can be very handy
at times. If you are familiar with FDisk
you can create two partitions otherwise I think XP will create a
partition during install. XP will install it's bootloader on
the Win98 partition giving you a Menu at bootup to select either one. I
am partial to dual boots though. On one of my
drives I have WinMe, Win2000pro, WinXPpro, WinXPpro2 and Fourteen Linux
Distros. But then again I'm nuts.

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time
on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to
approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[jimbo]

VPC works perfectly on my WinXP Home system. In fact I had Win98se
running as a guest with no problems.

Good luck, jimbo

Thanks for your reply Walter. Unfortunately, I am using WinXP Home and my
understanding is that VPC requires Win2K or WinXPPro.

As an alternative, look at Virtual PC or similar. You can then run the app
concurrently.

True multi-booting into a DOS/9x environment is going to be problematic. The
hardware is rapidly outstripping the abilities of those platforms to
support.

--
Walter Clayton
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org

Richard, how large are your hard drives? A dual boot using one drive
for both OS's would be very easy to setup.
Just install Win98 first. You can use the second drive for your CAD and
other programs. I would use FAT32 for both
OS's. This way you can access WinXP from Win98 which can be very handy
at times. If you are familiar with FDisk
you can create two partitions otherwise I think XP will create a
partition during install. XP will install it's bootloader on
the Win98 partition giving you a Menu at bootup to select either one. I
am partial to dual boots though. On one of my
drives I have WinMe, Win2000pro, WinXPpro, WinXPpro2 and Fourteen Linux
Distros. But then again I'm nuts.
I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time
on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to
approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply Len. Yes I have set it up under Win95 compatibility
settings, but the program is Dos-era and for some reason, many of the
functions that need "extended memory" are not able to work under WinXP.
(Sadly, this is becoming a real problem because historical data will be of no
use as time passes unless the programs that read them are continuously
upgraded with the OS upgrades. Many of those companies have been put out of
business like the one that designed the CAD program I have. My wife is a
librarian, and my sister is a historian, and both complain about the
inability to access old data as the programs disappear or as the storage
medium disintegrates. Some books have lasted thousands of years, but
electronic data will be lucky to last a half century.)

Richard,

Personally I do NOT like dual boot systems, since if you have a problem
(corruption, etc.) in one OS, it can adversely affect the other one also and
T/S problems gets a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Many will
disagree with me here, but I've BTDT and then decided to take an alternative
course of action.

I have a few systems (used for testing) with removable HDD trays. This way I
have one OS/drive and just remove the drive, insert the other one and boot
up. Some of the best removable trays are made by CRU, Inc. and you can find
them in some of the bigger computer stores.
http://www.cruinc.com/

Thus you can have your WinXP system for most things and separately a system
with Win98 and your CAD program.

Is it safe to assume that you've tried WinXP's Compatibility settings tab
for the CAD program under WinXP and found that it didn't work properly for
you? If you haven't tried this first, that would be my first recommendation
(rather than using dual drives/OS).

--

Regards,
Len Segal, MCP
Microsoft - MVP
--------------
My reply address is intentionally wrong to reduce SPAM Email.
NOTE: We do not respond to unsolicited Email support questions,
please post questions in newsgroup.

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So, I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Len Segal]

Richard,

You are correct. Any chance that newer SW can read the data files created by
this old app? Sometimes they supply converters either with the SW or from
the new SW mfr's website.

--

Regards,
Len Segal, MCP
Microsoft - MVP
--------------
My reply address is intentionally wrong to reduce SPAM Email.
NOTE: We do not respond to unsolicited Email support questions,
please post questions in newsgroup.

Thanks for your reply Len. Yes I have set it up under Win95 compatibility
settings, but the program is Dos-era and for some reason, many of the
functions that need "extended memory" are not able to work under WinXP.
(Sadly, this is becoming a real problem because historical data will be of
no
use as time passes unless the programs that read them are continuously
upgraded with the OS upgrades. Many of those companies have been put out
of
business like the one that designed the CAD program I have. My wife is a
librarian, and my sister is a historian, and both complain about the
inability to access old data as the programs disappear or as the storage
medium disintegrates. Some books have lasted thousands of years, but
electronic data will be lucky to last a half century.)

Richard,

Personally I do NOT like dual boot systems, since if you have a problem
(corruption, etc.) in one OS, it can adversely affect the other one also
and
T/S problems gets a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Many will
disagree with me here, but I've BTDT and then decided to take an
alternative
course of action.

I have a few systems (used for testing) with removable HDD trays. This
way I
have one OS/drive and just remove the drive, insert the other one and
boot
up. Some of the best removable trays are made by CRU, Inc. and you can
find
them in some of the bigger computer stores.
http://www.cruinc.com/

Thus you can have your WinXP system for most things and separately a
system
with Win98 and your CAD program.

Is it safe to assume that you've tried WinXP's Compatibility settings tab
for the CAD program under WinXP and found that it didn't work properly
for
you? If you haven't tried this first, that would be my first
recommendation
(rather than using dual drives/OS).

--

Regards,
Len Segal, MCP
Microsoft - MVP
--------------
My reply address is intentionally wrong to reduce SPAM Email.
NOTE: We do not respond to unsolicited Email support questions,
please post questions in newsgroup.

I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need
extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It
worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time
on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still
have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced
it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the
program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So,
I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting
WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and
on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to
approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD
program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd
HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be
better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Walter Clayton]

VPC isn't the only player which is why I said 'or similar'.

Just to name one:
http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_specs.html#hostos

--
Walter Clayton
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

Thanks for your reply Walter. Unfortunately, I am using WinXP Home and my
understanding is that VPC requires Win2K or WinXPPro.

As an alternative, look at Virtual PC or similar. You can then run the
app
concurrently.

True multi-booting into a DOS/9x environment is going to be problematic.
The
hardware is rapidly outstripping the abilities of those platforms to
support.

--
Walter Clayton
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org

Richard, how large are your hard drives? A dual boot using one
drive
for both OS's would be very easy to setup.
Just install Win98 first. You can use the second drive for your CAD
and
other programs. I would use FAT32 for both
OS's. This way you can access WinXP from Win98 which can be very
handy
at times. If you are familiar with FDisk
you can create two partitions otherwise I think XP will create a
partition during install. XP will install it's bootloader on
the Win98 partition giving you a Menu at bootup to select either
one. I
am partial to dual boots though. On one of my
drives I have WinMe, Win2000pro, WinXPpro, WinXPpro2 and Fourteen
Linux
Distros. But then again I'm nuts.
I have a Dos CAD program that I can't afford to upgrade ($2500) to be
compatible with WinXP (most of the features like zoom that need
extended
memory, do not work in the WinXP Command Prompt screen/shell). It
worked
fine on our Win95 machine until a couple weeks ago when the Win95
explorer.exe crashed - going into a continuous loop and that pushed
the
old
harddrive over the edge. That old computer is not worth spending time
on.
Also, I have a non-Dell harddrive with Win98 installed (Yes I still
have
the
disk) from another computer whose motherboard burnt out.
Last Jan, our new WinXP computer harddrive crashed and Dell replaced
it,
but
it took me more than a week to get back up to speed with all the
program
rebooting and updates etc. that has to be done when a HD crashes. So,
I
hesitate to start over by putting Win98 on first and then rebooting
WinXP
after, and I thought that I would just install the Win98 HD as a
second
drive. That is how I got here to this forum, but after reading off and
on
for
this past weekend, I am more confused than ever over which way to
approach
this. So, my question to you experts (remembering that I am not) is:
"Which
is the better (meaning easier, less-problem producing, least
time-consuming,
less complicated for an ignorant person) method of getting my CAD
program
to
function.
1. Sticking with one HD and going thru the whole double rebooting
process?
(If so, would one of you direct me to a step-by-step procedure. Thank
you.)
2. Installing the Win98 HD as is hoping WinXP's New Hardware
Installer
can
handle the 2nd HD without a driver (I'm sure the driver is on that 2nd
HD
somewhere!) [OK, maybe I can locate the manufacturer on the web and
download
a driver.]
3. Some other solution that you experts know about that would be
better.
4. Tell me to go to the Dell user forum and stop bothering you.
Thanks in advance for all your time and good knowledge. R-

 

[Guest]

Sorry for my ignorance, Len, but I'm so old that SW means Short Wave to me.

As for converting the files. Like Betamax, my CAD program uses a "standard"
that was forced out by the big guys like AutoCAD back in the late 80's. This
seems par for the software course. I have watched many good programs be
replaced by mediocre programs because of marketing power. My CAD program was
designed by people who were draftsmen and as such it was fantastic to use
from a drafting perspective, but lacked the features that allows other
programs to interact with word processors spreadsheets etc. (Dare I say it
here, like Lotus, WordPerfect, Apple, Netscape?) AutoCAD, the 800# gorilla,
was designed by computer programmers or someone who did not actually make
his/her living drafting, but do understand computers and programs. Thus the
standard is the one that AutoCAD uses, and I have searched for years to find
a way to convert the files, but always it leads to some conflict - that a
translator between systems does not exist, and then having to spend about
$3000 for a new CAD program to translate them to. Like heiroglyphics, there
is needs to be a Rosetta stone, but in this case, since it is no longer used,
who would take/waste the time to develop a translator. In any case, all has
been fine until my Win95 program crashed. So getting that back in to
operation seems to be the best solution.

Thanks again for your help, R-

 

[Guest]

Sorry for my ignorance, Len, but I'm so old that SW means Short Wave to me.

I did finally figure out that SW means software, and I wanted
to bring everyone up to date on what has happened as a result of these
exchanges, and to thank everyone for their patience and help.
Originally, I inserted that 2nd HD with Win98 on it into the
computer but that proved problematic in itself. I went thru a series of
connecting that drive, swapping positions and jumpers, only getting the
computer to register it when it was in a master position on either cable.
Somewhen during this time I downloaded a boot manager (OSL2000
<http://www.osloader.com/> shareware as well and much cheaper than VPC), as
someone suggested that that was all I needed if I had two HDs. After I got
the BIOS to work properly, I also opened up the boot manager program, to see
what it was about, and it was the most painless installation I've ever had.
One click and it was all set up and functioning. One can then set up a
Shortcut on the Desktop to swap OSs and hide all the rest of the process. I
was amazed. I had to restart the computer, and lo and behold, the 2nd drive
with Windows shows up as a choice to boot to in the manager. I tried it and
Win98 came up going into "found new hardware" mode. I got it functioning
with all the drivers for this newer machine, and it too now has a Shortcut to
swap OSs to WinXP. I don't know if other brands of managers work this
easily, but this is truly "plug and play", and I encourage you to try it if
you have the need for more than one OS.
As for rebooting, which I had resigned myself to, there was
none. Win98 worked fine after bringing it up to date with the new drivers.
Never had to touch WinXP. Of course, there was no partitioning of a single
drive, since the 2nd drive is in fact its own partition. Whether or not it
would have been so smooth with only one drive probably has to do with the
program one uses to do the partitioning. OSL2000 gives you a link to a 3rd
party program which has lots of cautions about how one needs to go about the
process. Obviously not for the fainthearted, and certainly more frightening
if one only has one HD. I had to switch to WinXP to get out here to
communicate a number of times and would have been a lot older and grayer if
I'd had problems with just the one drive. I would certainly suggest using a
secondary HD rather than re-installing WinXP.
Well, I've surely taken up enough of your time, so let me
thank you all again, profusely, for your good help. R->