Solved Can a USB drive be set up to work in win 8 and 10, but NOT in 7

[Liz27]

An archive of magazines I want to buy is available on a USB drive. They post a warning that the drive will run on 8 and 10, but NOT on 7 or earlier.

Are they nuts or is it possible to do that? What is so different about how 8 and 10 run USB that it would not open in 7?

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
None that I know of
10 does have it's own pdf reader not sure if 8 has the same or not :/
Not even sure what format the archive would be in.

 

[strollin]

One possible way would be for the magazines to be in some proprietary format that only their supplied reader can read/display. Their reader may be a "modern app" that will run on Win 8 & 10 but won't work with Win 7.

 

[LMiller7]

Are they nuts or is it possible to do that?

Very possible.

What is the file type of the archive? They may be using a proprietary format to make copying more difficult. If the software requires some feature found only in Windows 8 or later it would not work with Windows 7. But considering the current popularity of Windows 7 it is hard to imagine why this would be done.

Edit: I had not seen the reply by strolling when I posted. That seems very likely.

 

[mitchell65]

But what would be the point.? Surely whoever is marketing these magazines would be cutting off 70% of it's potential customers.
EDIT: Sorry LMiller7 I crossed too!

 

[Liz27]

Hmm...
Thank you all for answering.
All the previous archives have been in PDF with a reader program that allowed searching the entire archive for specific articles. The PDF files, though, were perfectly usable as stand-alones in any reader. It never occurred to me that they would put the new files in other than PDF format, but that must be a possibility.

I'm guessing that strollin is most likely correct. If it is possible to write programs that will not run in any windows earlier than 8, I'll bet their "search & read" app is one of those. I'm going to have to break down and call them.

Again, thank you all.

 

[mitchell65]

It would be good to hear the result of your phone call, that is after you recover from your break down, of course!

 

[LMiller7]

One of the major things an operating system does is provide services for applications. These include facilities for the user to interact with applications, read and write files, access the registry, and much more. This makes programming much easier and applications present a consistent interface to users. Each new version of an operating system adds new such facilities for use by applications. Often there will be major functionality added that is very advantageous for an application to use. The downside is that older versions of the OS will not be compatible with the application uses these facilities. Each application has some minimum OS version that provides all of the services it requires.

 

[Liz27]

Sorry, michell65. After breaking down to phone them for the order and for information, I really only have the order.

The archives are still PDF files.
There is a "search & show" app that will access all the PDF files.
The whole thing is available on either DVD or a USB drive.
People running win7 or earlier who have tried to install the app from the USB to their hard drives have been unable to do so.
There is no reported problem installing the app from the DVD.
The customer service gal had no clue if the program on the USB was different from the one on the DVD, but that surely makes no sense to me. Why write two different apps? And, if the apps are the same, why won't it install from a USB?
Smells like they bought a batch of bad USBs or ones that were pre-formatted to run on win8. (is that possible?)
OR perhaps the folks who were installing from the USB to 7 were not running from an admin account and too clueless to know how to install anything at all to their PC. This is an archive of sewing magazines, after all, and even today I know some smart women are not all that computer savvy.

I'm disappointed to not know what happened, but getting hold of the techs is unlikely.

 

[Wandering one]

Really good spot for a tin=foil hat conspiracy theory, ' M$ kickbacks have started '
Art.

 

[Liz27]

Really good spot for a tin=foil hat conspiracy theory, ' M$ kickbacks have started '
Art.

I prefer an aluminum colander to tin foil, but these days I only have a plastic one.

 

[strollin]

If the magazine files are in PDF format, what installation is needed other to copy the files from the USB to the desired drive location? If installation is required, that implies there is a supplied reader program. It could be that either the reader or the installer program for the reader is not Win 7 compatible.

If the magazine files are actually in PDF format, skip the install. Create a folder on your hard drive where you want to store the files then copy them to that folder and use your favorite PDF reader to read them.

I just thought of another possibility. The magazine files may be compressed into an archive and stored on the USB. They may have a proprietary archive program that is needed to unarchive the PDFZ files and it could be that program that is not Win 7 compatible.

 

[mitchell65]

The last time I read an archive of sewing magazines I have to say it had me in stitches Sorry for that