external drive on laptop w/o operating system

hamdog1st · 02-01-2008, 12:32 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!

**TriggerFinger** · 02-01-2008, 12:43 PM

Hi hamdog1st...

I presume your BIOS could recognize a USB attached optical drive. Check your BIOS settings and enable booting from USB attached devices. AFAIK almost all BIOS 'current' releases can recognize USB devices and can even boot from them.

Given that... you can now boot from your USB attached Sony DVD drive.

**TriggerFinger** · 02-01-2008, 12:44 PM

some things i forgot to mention.. just in case you BIOS level does not support this yet, try updating to most current release. Your computer manufacturer's website may provide this information.

**sobeit** · 02-01-2008, 08:11 PM

you can also try going to toshibas website and download their cd/dvd drivers for your model and reinstall. Maybe it will get your internal drive working.

The xp disks you are using, did they come with this specific computer model or another? It can also make a difference.

02-01-2008, 12:32 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!

02-01-2008, 12:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,144 OS: Windows 7 Beta, Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: external drive on laptop w/o operating system Hi hamdog1st... I presume your BIOS could recognize a USB attached optical drive. Check your BIOS settings and enable booting from USB attached devices. AFAIK almost all BIOS 'current' releases can recognize USB devices and can even boot from them. Given that... you can now boot from your USB attached Sony DVD drive.

02-01-2008, 12:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,144 OS: Windows 7 Beta, Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: external drive on laptop w/o operating system some things i forgot to mention.. just in case you BIOS level does not support this yet, try updating to most current release. Your computer manufacturer's website may provide this information.

02-01-2008, 08:11 PM	#4 (permalink)
sobeit TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: NEAR Posts: 7,404 OS: windows/linux	Re: external drive on laptop w/o operating system you can also try going to toshibas website and download their cd/dvd drivers for your model and reinstall. Maybe it will get your internal drive working. The xp disks you are using, did they come with this specific computer model or another? It can also make a difference. __________________ there's been global warming since the ice age