I have a Dell Dimension XPS T500 (500 Mhz Pentium III/384 MB ram/20 GB HD (partitions 15 GB drive C and 5 GB drive D)) which is presently running well with Win98SE. However, for near future capabilities, I want to install Win2K Prof. with dual-booting (Win2K and Win98SE), and was thinking of installing Win2K onto a new second hard-disk to keep Win2K in a separate partition from the Win98SE files as recommended by many folks. It occurred to me that for only slightly more money than for another internal hard-disk, I could buy a USB connected external hard-disk. The questions are: - Is it doable or practical to install Win2K Prof. on a USB connected hard-disk so that it allows for dual-booting? - If so, what might be the problems in attempting to do so, and what might the problems with such a setup? - If not, why can't it be done? - Does anyone have any other comments on what I'm thinking of doing?

As to OS on a usb-connected drive = technically possible TOTALLY unfeasible. Possible because some USB adapters can be made to function with DOS drivers and then masquerade as a bootable device in your BIOS setup. Trust me, you don't wanna go there. MS just (surprise!) extended w98 formal support through 6/2006 - this days before formal mothballing was supposed to occur. Many major software houses began to withdraw w98 support over a year ago and, because designing for NT vs. DOS is different, you can expect to see rapidly waning w98 support. You are much better off to either dual-boot off your existing drive (space permitting0 or purchase a second drive. Drives have gotten very inexpensive (newegg.com). IMHO, it's foolish to dual-boot win98/NT unless you have a *specific* need to (employed as app tester, dependency on some strange & legacy w98-only app) Many people attempt to justify dual because they are nervous about an all-at-once switch away from what is familiar. Without fail, however, it's more technically challenging to create&maintain a dual boot system than it is to just switch. To minimize the pain do it thusly: > Disconnect your existing drive (no need to remove) and install another drive (new) as master. > install win2k, apply sp4, then apply all post-sp4 patches. Install all device drivers & apps (you'll need w2k specific) > power-off & re-connect your old drive as slave No you have access to all your old files on slave and can slowly migrate them over to master as you ID which are valuable enough for longterm storage. When all files are organized & you are confident you no longer need anything on slave then format it as NTFS. If you desire a USB drive for portability recommend you consider a USB enclosure (box only - you put a device in) then you can pull the slave (old) drive & use as detachable - or put any IDE device inside. They cost about 40$ for a 3.5". typed out. bye.