Tech Support Forum - View Single Post - external drive on laptop w/o operating system

hamdog1st · 02-01-2008, 01:32 PM

Hi. I need some help. One month ago the HDD on my Toshiba Satellite kicked after 3 years service. I ordered a new drive online. No problem. I tried to use the Toshiba's DVD-RW drive to reinstall Win XP Home using Toshiba's reinstall discs, but it would not work. I suspect the Toshiba DVD-RW drive is the problem, because when the laptop was up and running, the Toshiba DVD-RW drive never worked right. Very often I had to use my Sony DVD-RW USB external drive to install vital programs. The original Toshiba DVD-RW would always show various errors, and would rarely burn DVD's successfully. The Sony USB external drive never failed.

The problem: I need to reinstall Win XP Home. Using the original Toshiba DVD-RW, the reinstall discs show error, after error, and I have tried four different original copies of Win XP. No success with Toshiba drive. I KNOW ITS THE TOSHIBA DVD-RW! These XP discs will install on other computers.

Question: How can I attach the Sony external USB drive (or any other drive) to the laptop w/o the operating system installed in order to successfully load Win XP on to the HDD??
Please help, and thanks!

02-01-2008, 01:32 PM	#1 (permalink)
hamdog1st Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1 OS: xp	external drive on laptop w/o operating system Hi. I need some help. One month ago the HDD on my Toshiba Satellite kicked after 3 years service. I ordered a new drive online. No problem. I tried to use the Toshiba's DVD-RW drive to reinstall Win XP Home using Toshiba's reinstall discs, but it would not work. I suspect the Toshiba DVD-RW drive is the problem, because when the laptop was up and running, the Toshiba DVD-RW drive never worked right. Very often I had to use my Sony DVD-RW USB external drive to install vital programs. The original Toshiba DVD-RW would always show various errors, and would rarely burn DVD's successfully. The Sony USB external drive never failed. The problem: I need to reinstall Win XP Home. Using the original Toshiba DVD-RW, the reinstall discs show error, after error, and I have tried four different original copies of Win XP. No success with Toshiba drive. I KNOW ITS THE TOSHIBA DVD-RW! These XP discs will install on other computers. Question: How can I attach the Sony external USB drive (or any other drive) to the laptop w/o the operating system installed in order to successfully load Win XP on to the HDD?? Please help, and thanks!