Booting Windows XP from an External DVD/CD Drive

[The Birdman 472]

I have to reinstall my copy of Windows XP service pack 3 on my Dell Mini 9, and am going to order an external optical drive to do so becasue the Dell Mini doesn't have one. I have heard that sometimes netbooks don't provide enough power through their USB ports to use an external DVD/CD drive to boot an OS from, and was wondering if I could just use the dual USB pigtail cord that comes with the drive to plug one into my computer, and one into a USB wall power adapter (from an iPod charger) to get more power.

The specific drive I am thinking or ordering is this:

Newegg.com - ASUS USB 2.0 White External Slim CD/DVD Writer Model SDRW-08D2S-U

[ShyguyXPC]

it should have enough power to boot, though a different netbook, my Moms Asus Netbook, has enough juice to do it on its own.

you could try to have the netbook plugged into the wall with its AC power to make sure there's enough juice.

I think the reason it has a Dual USB plug is because that drive is a Burner as well, and uses more power for that, for basic DVD reading though, it should have more than enough power to boot from.


or if your Dell Mini has more than one USB port, plug it into both ports to get enough juice.

Or if the spare port is on the other side of the netbook, a cheap extension cable to connect to 2nd pigtail and stretch around to the other side....


OR... if you wanted to, get a Powered USB 2.0 Hub, and plug that into the laptop and the DVD Drive into the Hub.

[The Birdman 472]

Thanks. I think I will plug the computer into the wall itself. I guess I'll just have to experiment around if it doesnt work. Thanks very much for your answer, I just wanted to make sure before I bought the drive that I could get it to work.