boot and install xp from hard disk

[agwising]

hi! i have a little problem.

i would like to boot as well as install xp using my hard drive. this is my story:

i have a sony vaio picturebook pcg-c1vn, this laptop does not have any optical drives. i had to reinstall windows because it had crashed. this is what i have done but still no good results:
1. install xp using an external usb cdrom (cannot boot because the bios is not updated to boot from a usb)
2. install xp using a pcmcia cf card adapter
3. install using usb flash disk (same reason because i cannot boot from usb)
4. extracted the hard disk, placed it in another laptop and installed xp there instead since laptop 2 (asus degatto) has a cd rom but still unsuccessful since the chipset of the asus degatto has higher specifications as compared to my sony vaio


so my question is this:
since i was able to extract my hard disk i placed it in an enclosure (so its now an external hard drive), i would like to format the hard disk then make it bootable then copy the setup files of the win xp there. so when i return the hard disk to my sony vaio it will boot from there then install xp from the hard disk itself. is that possible? a little help there please. thanks a lot!!!

[Conquistador]

That's a cool little laptop. I've looked at those before on Ebay. Some of the older laptops can boot from USB optical drives. But the problem with many of them is that you have that option ONLY if the optical drive is made by the same company. And it's not necessarily going to work with any optical drive from Sony. It may be only those made specifically for Vaios. But if you know anyone with a Sony USB CD-ROM drive that you could borrow, it may be worth a try.

[davedarkstar]

hi,im not sure if im right here but have a go at this,switch pc on, keep taping f5 quickly til you get options,i think theres an option there to boot from external devices via usb(youre cd rom ) ,it might be f8 even f12 and like i said i might be wrong but get back n let us all know,good luck.

[davedarkstar]

ps the above,if you can get the rom to start installing xp this way, there is a point after its finished loading setup files where you get an option (to continue installing xp from cd rom press any key) you have to be very VERY quick to press any key as the choice is only there for about 2 seconds,if you miss that mark you have to start the whole install thing again. good luck again.

[davedarkstar]

pps,an interesting site you might like to check out
http://www.gennersales.eu/recovery/s...n_Recovery_CDs
it dose cover a few different vaios.