Swap a CD drive from one laptop to another?

Evening all.

I'm hoping someone could advise me on this.

Right the long story is that my wife has been off work for 9 months and is due to return tmrw. She works from home using our laptop which connects to a seperate mainframe through a business designed operating software. Whilst she has been off our original laptop died so I bought her a nice new shiny one in preparation for returning.

Unfortunately we tried it tonight with the CD rom that loads the operating software and it wouldn't load. We spoke to her tech support who say the CD drive on our new laptop is too new to operate the software (:loopy:I know this must be daft but thats what they said). Anyway they say the options are to use the old laptop (as stated its dead!) or get an external CD drive.

My questions are as follows :-

1. Is it possible to remove the CD drive from the old laptop (Dell Inspiron) and put it in the new laptop (toshiba satellite)?

2. If it is, is it easy to do?

3. If not possible how easy is it to attach an external CD drive to a laptop so it boots the operating system from there?

Many thanks for any advice you can give us.

if theyre the same size drives (2.5?) then you can remove it and install it in the new one

the easier job is the external, BUT theres no way of knowing which external will work till you try one.

tbh i dont think its the cd thats too new, more likely the version of windows, the new lappy has vista or 7 on? and i bet the software runs on xp or even 98

if theyre the same size drives (2.5?) then you can remove it and install it in the new one

 

the easier job is the external, BUT theres no way of knowing which external will work till you try one.

 

tbh i dont think its the cd thats too new, more likely the version of windows, the new lappy has vista or 7 on? and i bet the software runs on xp or even 98

Thanks. Its Windows 7 but we have to change the default setting of the laptop so it boots from CD drive so wouldn't have thought that it 7 would affect it as it never boots up?

Thanks. Its Windows 7 but we have to change the default setting of the laptop so it boots from CD drive so wouldn't have thought that it 7 would affect it as it never boots up?

a lot of earlier software doesnt work on vista or 7.......look at installing someat like 98 on the laptop ALONGSIDE your windows 7 just for the work thing then you can use both

We spoke to her tech support who say the CD drive on our new laptop is too new to operate the software...

Huh?

All the CD or DVD drive does is make the data on the disc available to the computer. I would suggest that you ask them again and escalate to a more qualified tech support person. The one you spoke to previously obviously does not have a clue.

Of course, it is entirely possible that the programmes on the disc are no longer compatible with the newer operating system.

a lot of earlier software doesnt work on vista or 7.......look at installing someat like 98 on the laptop ALONGSIDE your windows 7 just for the work thing then you can use both

instead of doing that i'd look at using virtual machines;

http://www.vmware.com/

You can try running the program in compatibility mode, instructions here...

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

You know what I,d do, download a free iso maker software, turn your cd into a .bin or .iso and drop it on a dongle and use demon tools to install on the new machine.

For the people who recomended dual boot win 98, 1 major issue, try getting it to work with anything over 512mb ram and you win the $64,000,000 prize.

Option 2

Get yourself on ebay and buy a £12 external usb laptop drive caddy, all laptop conections are the same for cd's , well except serial ones.

I'd go down the .iso route 1st then the usb 2nd.