Running a game on external hard drive

Question

I have windows Vista but it won't play my game, even in compatibility mode (Game is Medieval Lords: Build, Defend, Expand if it makes a difference) but the spec of my PC is fine otherwise to play it. So if I had an external hard drive with XP installed on it would I be able to play this game (and others) through that? Is there anything else I'd have to do?

Answer 1

Unfortunately Vista is dreadful at backwards compatibility.  I take it you have tried right-clicking the exe, hitting properties and poking around with the compatibility tab by your comments.  The problem you will probably hit with running XP on an external HDD is the speed, unless you have a high-speed connection (USB will probably be too slow).  Your best bet, if you have a copy of XP is to dual boot it with Vista, you will be bet off repartitioning your internal hard drive, if you have space.  Make sure you backup any data before doing this though.

Answer 2

I would not recommend using an external hard drive for that.  External hard drives are slower (due to the USB connection) and wear out more quickly than normal hard drives.  So not only will it hurt performance, but it is also bad for the hard drive, because of all the accesses being made.

If your computer has a spot where you can put an extra hard drive, I would recommend using an internal one (since they are also cheaper).

To top that off, you might have some other problem that isn't fixed by a different OS.  I've never tried the game, so I don't know what your exact problem is.  Before reinstalling your OS, try looking for patches to the game or making sure your DirectX is compatible (this can cause problems).

Also, the company that made your game probably has tech support as part of their website.  They probably get questions like yours often, so they would know what solutions to try.