A ‘Disk Error’ occurred on my Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop and the laptop no longer boots. Instead, the computer restarts at the Windows XP splash screen. Running the Dell Diagnostics utility indicates there is an error in the IDE hard drive, but the utility does not fix the problem. I have tried reinstalling Windows, but the setup will not properly recognise the hard drive (presumably due to the error). Is it possible to use the laptop without an internal hard drive, but instead connect an external hard drive and install Windows XP onto the external drive?

It seems like you have a pretty serious problem with the hard drive on the computer. When the Dell Diagnostics indicate there is an error on the drive, this normally indicates a hardware fault with the device. The Dell Diagnostics is not really designed to repair such errors, but instead provide information (such as error codes) to Dell technicians so they can help narrow down the problem. In this case, it seems like the hard drive is cactus so you will likely need to get a new drive. If your computer is under warranty then you should contact Dell to have the drive replaced. However, if your computer is no longer under warranty, which is the more likely scenario given the age of the computer, you have a few more options.

Your idea about using an external hard drive as the boot device for the laptop is interesting, but does have some drawbacks. First, you need to check whether your laptop can boot from USB devices. You can find this information in the BIOS setup of the computer. When the computer initially starts and the Dell screen appears there should be a message saying something like ‘Press F2 to enter setup’. Press the nominated key and the BIOS setup screen should appear. We now need to locate the screen where you can configure the boot order of devices. Different models of computers have different BIOS setup screens, so I can’t provide exact guidance on the location. However, on my Dell laptop there is a tab in the BIOS setup named ‘Boot’. Scrolling across to this tab reveals the boot order for devices. In the list of devices my computer has USB FDD (floppy disk drive), IDE HDD, USB HDD, IDE CDROM, and PCI LAN. As you can see, my model of laptop does support booting from a USB hard drive. Even if your laptop does support booting from a USB HDD, the research that I have conducted indicates that this is not an easy process. In fact, it seems Microsoft are actively discouraging people from trying to install Windows XP onto a USB hard drive, as indicated on their website (www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/usbfaq.mspx) which says that a USB device cannot be the primary source of storage on the system. There are methods floating around on the internet to get Windows XP booting from a USB drive, but they are quite messy and are not guaranteed to work. So, I would suggest that you do not try to install and boot Windows from an external hard drive, since it is likely to be more trouble than it’s worth, and there can be potential dangers (e.g. should the USB drive become disconnected from the computer, Windows will likely crash in a very spectacular manner).

Abandoning the idea of booting Windows from an external USB drive, the next best option is replacing the hard drive in your laptop. Should your computer be out of warranty you have a few options: buy the drive and replace the drive yourself, take the laptop to a computer store, or ask Dell. It is probably worthwhile asking Dell for a quote first, and I also suggest that you ask around local computer stores. Generally the hard drive on Dell laptops is accessible, so it should be relatively easy to replace. If you are confident working with laptops and have done such things before, you could purchase a new laptop hard drive yourself and then install the drive. I suggest you remove the old drive first, so you can inspect the drive to ensure the replacement drive you purchase will be compatible. However, a better, and faster, alternative would be to get a professional to install the drive. It may also be worthwhile asking whether they can recover any data from your old drive, in case there is any part which is still recoverable.