Windows 7: SIMPLE QUESTION: Hard Drive Broke-Can I run pc from external?

So here is the issue:

I have an Hp Pavilion dv6t 3000 or 6000 (can't remember) with an I7 prcessor anf 8 gb RAM....running Win 7 Home Premium..

Hard drive stopped working, (303 error)...

I have a 1tb external hard drive (WD) that has a complete backup of my broken hard drive (root of external drive has folder called WindowsImageBackup as well as a "folder" with my computer name (what windows asked me to name my computer) and a weird icon like a cd or something instead of a folder...

I also have the windows 7 install disk..
-------
So my question is....can I get my laptop to run using the external drive? Ideally I want to be able to substitute my broke hard drive with the external one running windows 7 with the image backup so everything is just as it was...

I have tried plugging in the external drive usb and changing the bios bootup priority so that USB is first, however when I restart it does not recognize the external drive and skips to the next bootup...

If anyone can tell me if this is possible I would greatly appreciate it...plus give any tips on how to make this work (I want to tun my pc before I get a new hard drive)


Thanks a TONNN

Easiest fix would be to get a new bare laptop HD from NewEgg.com. Probably $125.00 or less depend on the storage size (GigaBytes)

Tghanks for the reply....I am getting a new hard drive and am comfortable restoring once it gets here...

However I want to know if I can run my machine with what I currently have (external drive with complete backup and windows install disk)..

Is that possible?

I had hoped I could just boot from the usb hard drive and take it from there but that has not worked out so well so far..

The backup you have is an image format & is not bootable. It has to be restored to a HD to make a bootable version. Therefore to the new HD you are getting.

Thanks again....so the only way I can make the external bootable is by restoring it first?

Is there a way I can boot from the windows 7 install cd then run the computer from the external drive?

Sorry to persist but I really want to get this working on any level asap before my new drive comes in..

Thanks

The problem is your backup is on the Ext. you want to use. You would end up wiping out your backup, trying to do what you think you want to do. Be safe, wait for the new HD.

damn....alright...thanks again for the awedsome help

Oh, by the way,

Welcome to Seven Forums.

When you get the new HD, we have a lot of helpful members here if you have any problems.

In the mean time, read some of the excellent Tutorials. There is a lot to learn here on SF.
I even learned something new from a thread today

So I finally got the new hard drive...
Momentus 7200
ST9750420AS
Capacity: 750 GB
Interface: SATA/300
RPM: 7200 RPM
Height: 9.5 mm
Buffer: 16 MB

(here is a quick video explaining my issues now... swven foruma help - NInc81's library )

I installed it, put in the windows 7 disk - and load the system image from my external hard drive.

Here is the deal...the new hard drive is bigger than the old one, yet it says I am almost out of space in my c drive.

I think this has something to do with partitioning and formating, but there are too many holes in my general knowledge base to feel comfortable attempting things that could turn out bad.

Any and all help would be amazing as I feel a little ignorant..

Thanks

When you do restores from image backups, they recreate the partitions with the same sizes as the original -- they do not (by default) enlarge the partitions when being written to a larger drive.

You can change partition sizes by using Win7 Disk Management.