# Doing a Vista/XP clean install OFF an external hard drive



## mug3n (Jul 10, 2008)

Hey all,

First off, I want to say what a great resource this is. I've learned a lot of stuff just from my hours of lurking here hehe. But now I finally have a problem that I can't solve with my lurking and Googling and whatnot.

I am asking about this because my laptop has no built-in optical drive, nor do I have an external optical drive, which is why I'm resorting to this method because I *do* have an external hard drive. I want to do a clean install of XP or Vista ON my laptop VIA the external hard drive, which would contain my ISO of XP/Vista but along with other files I've backed up.

Is there some way to boot an ISO of my Windows disc while it's on my external? I'm pretty sure the BIOS of my laptop (Fujitsu Lifebook T2010) supports USB bootup, but how do I get the ISO booted while keeping all the files on my external? Because I have around ~160gb of stuff on it and it's not very easy to just move away everything just to do a clean install... 

I hope I made sense, and someone can give me some insight. Thanks!


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