Hi Guys

I've a little problem here, I appreciate any help offered.

My laptop has died (total disk failure) and the CD-ROM drive has been
broken for a couple of years and I'm reluctant to spend $300 on a new
<insert name> CD-ROM drive. So here is my problem...

Is it possible to format and get a basic o/s onto a hard-drive
sufficiently for it to boot so I can manually run XP-Pro 'setup' from
the equivalent of a DOS Prompt? I'm sure in the bad/good old days I did
this kind of thing with Windows 95/98, but the only systems I have now
are XP-Pro and I can't find a way to format the HDD (in a caddy) with /S
and get a basic o/s loaded.

Oh, as is the case these days, the laptop doesn't have an FDD either.

Cheers

Martin

It seems to me that you need to get yourself a decent laptop.. with no
floppy, CD drive or hard drive, you don't have a laptop..

--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"Martin" <martin_nospam@etiqa.co.uk> wrote in message
news:434d34c9$0$318$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk...
> Hi Guys
>
> I've a little problem here, I appreciate any help offered.
>
> My laptop has died (total disk failure) and the CD-ROM drive has been
> broken for a couple of years and I'm reluctant to spend $300 on a new
> <insert name> CD-ROM drive. So here is my problem...
>
> Is it possible to format and get a basic o/s onto a hard-drive
> sufficiently for it to boot so I can manually run XP-Pro 'setup' from the
> equivalent of a DOS Prompt? I'm sure in the bad/good old days I did this
> kind of thing with Windows 95/98, but the only systems I have now are
> XP-Pro and I can't find a way to format the HDD (in a caddy) with /S and
> get a basic o/s loaded.
>
> Oh, as is the case these days, the laptop doesn't have an FDD either.
>
> Cheers

Mike Hall (MS-MVP) wrote:
> Martin
>
> It seems to me that you need to get yourself a decent laptop.. with no
> floppy, CD drive or hard drive, you don't have a laptop..

Thanks for your helpful response lol

I know you're right, I'm a bit stoney at the moment and was hoping I
could get a new o/s installed somehow on a spare drive I happened to
have lying around. It'll be about 6 months before I can afford to get me
a new one

The laptop is a Sony Vaio and worked well for Office, Web, even video
editting. I object to paying Sony $300 for their weird CD-ROM interface
when I know they only cost $30! I can't even get BIOS to boot through
the network port

These modern systems are all well and good, but I think we've gone
backwards in some ways when you can't make a disk bootable like I could
in the days of DOS and recover anything. Ah well, back to the drawing
board. I'll carry on playing and post back if I can make anything work
/mumbles about putting DOS onto an old PC....drive caddy inside.....mmmm/

You would have to put the drive in a W9* system for the format /s to work.
Or even install W9* on the drive, and copy the XP CD to the HDD before the
transfer, then
delete as much hardware as possible from device manager then transfer it to
the laptop.
W9* is more forgiving than XP about being moved from machine to machine.

But you can get laptops CHEAP nowdays. It might be worth the investment to
avoid the headache.

--
A Professional Amateur...If anyone knew it all, none of would be here!
"Martin" <martin_nospam@etiqa.co.uk> wrote in message
news:434d34c9$0$318$da0feed9@news.zen.co.uk...
> Hi Guys
>
> I've a little problem here, I appreciate any help offered.
>
> My laptop has died (total disk failure) and the CD-ROM drive has been
> broken for a couple of years and I'm reluctant to spend $300 on a new
> <insert name> CD-ROM drive. So here is my problem...
>
> Is it possible to format and get a basic o/s onto a hard-drive
> sufficiently for it to boot so I can manually run XP-Pro 'setup' from the
> equivalent of a DOS Prompt? I'm sure in the bad/good old days I did this
> kind of thing with Windows 95/98, but the only systems I have now are
> XP-Pro and I can't find a way to format the HDD (in a caddy) with /S and
> get a basic o/s loaded.
>
> Oh, as is the case these days, the laptop doesn't have an FDD either.
>
> Cheers

In news:434d53b5$0$21316$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk,
Martin <martin_nospam@etiqa.co.uk> replied with a ;-)
> Mike Hall (MS-MVP) wrote:
>> Martin
>>
>> It seems to me that you need to get yourself a decent laptop.. with
>> no floppy, CD drive or hard drive, you don't have a laptop..
>
> Thanks for your helpful response lol
>
> I know you're right, I'm a bit stoney at the moment and was hoping I
> could get a new o/s installed somehow on a spare drive I happened to
> have lying around. It'll be about 6 months before I can afford to get
> me a new one
>
> The laptop is a Sony Vaio and worked well for Office, Web, even video
> editting. I object to paying Sony $300 for their weird CD-ROM
> interface when I know they only cost $30! I can't even get BIOS to
> boot through the network port
>
> These modern systems are all well and good, but I think we've gone
> backwards in some ways when you can't make a disk bootable like I
> could in the days of DOS and recover anything. Ah well, back to the
> drawing board. I'll carry on playing and post back if I can make
> anything work /mumbles about putting DOS onto an old PC....drive
> caddy inside.....mmmm/

Check at eBay for the parts you need..
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
xpnews@bogusmichaelstevenstech.com
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/ou...snewreader.htm

While I don't doubt that Sony never lose out on selling replacement parts
for their laptops, as long as you have the attitude that in reality
everything can be done for a tenth of the price claimed, you will always
have a broken laptop.. perhaps you should consider a desktop machine as they
are much cheaper to service..


--
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/User


"Martin" <martin_nospam@etiqa.co.uk> wrote in message
news:434d53b5$0$21316$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
> Mike Hall (MS-MVP) wrote:
>> Martin
>>
>> It seems to me that you need to get yourself a decent laptop.. with no
>> floppy, CD drive or hard drive, you don't have a laptop..
>
> Thanks for your helpful response lol
>
> I know you're right, I'm a bit stoney at the moment and was hoping I could
> get a new o/s installed somehow on a spare drive I happened to have lying
> around. It'll be about 6 months before I can afford to get me a new one
>
> The laptop is a Sony Vaio and worked well for Office, Web, even video
> editting. I object to paying Sony $300 for their weird CD-ROM interface
> when I know they only cost $30! I can't even get BIOS to boot through the
> network port
>
> These modern systems are all well and good, but I think we've gone
> backwards in some ways when you can't make a disk bootable like I could in
> the days of DOS and recover anything. Ah well, back to the drawing board.
> I'll carry on playing and post back if I can make anything work /mumbles
> about putting DOS onto an old PC....drive caddy inside.....mmmm/