How to Copy a Windows CD to an External Drive & Make It Bootable

nguồn :  http://www.ehow.com/how_8091206_copy-external-drive-make-bootable.html

By Jim Campbell, eHow Contributor

You can create a backup of your Windows installation DVD by copying it to an external hard drive. To use the external drive, you must make it bootable, which is accomplished in the Windows Disk Management utility. With the content of your DVD copied to the external drive and setting the drive as active, you can install Windows from the external drive in case you lose the installation DVD or the DVD gets damaged.

Difficulty: Moderate 

Instructions : Things you'll need

• Windows 7 installation DVD

1. • 1
     Insert the installation DVD in the computer's drive. Connect the external drive to your USB port on your computer. Click the Windows "Start" button and type "disk management" in the search text box. Press "Enter" to open the utility.
   • 2
     Right-click the partition labeled as your external drive in the Disk Management window. Select "Mark Partition as Active" from the pop-up window. This options makes the external drive bootable.
   • 3
     Click the Windows "Start" button again and click "Computer." Double-click your external drive letter to open an active window to the drive. Click the "Start" button, select "Computer," and this time double-click your installation DVD drive letter. Now, you have two windows open, so you can copy files.
   • 4
     Select all of the files on the installation DVD. Drag and drop the files to the external drive. The installation DVD contains several gigabytes of information, so it takes several minutes to copy all of the data to the drive.
   • 5
     Remove your installation DVD when the transfer completes. If you want to test the new drive, reboot the computer with the external drive connected.