Notebook pc and incompatible dvd drive

How are you connecting your external drive to your new notebook? Is it through a usb port? If so, windows 7 should recognize it when you plug it in; if not recognizing it, you can go to the website of the manufacturer for the drive and search for the windows 7 drivers. Install those on your notebook and try again. But typically windows 7 should automatically detect the drive...are you getting a specific error?

And the external drive is independent of what Operating system you use; it can most likely run on linux, windows 7, 8, Mac OS X, etc, so the drive can probably be used on your new notebook, unless the drive is very old and it uses other type of connection (not USB).