I found some links. Hope it helps:)
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/176289.aspx
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=49088
http://purge.bash.sh/~bredroll/satsite/
http://happylilypad.com/blog/index.php?/archives/36-Linux-on-Toshiba-Portege-7200.html
OK then…. I think I am hosed on this one.
I don’t have another laptop I can use to configure the HD, and I am definitely not about to buy the OEM PCMCIA-External DVD / CD drive, or the DVD docking station for this Toshiba.
Its too bad they didn’t have boot from USB back then… that I think would have saved this one.
So thanks everyone for replying!! I still learned a lot about Linux, in the process of my research… so It was a win-win overall.
thanks!!!
I upgraded my friend from his messed up version of xp to 7 this spring. His computer was built by a company custom in 2006, yet it had not the best specs for being custom. But they did only spend 600 bucks on it, so that’s expected. But what wasn’t expected was the fact that it was impossible to boot from usb on his mobo, almost. I ended up only being able to use some old 512mb flash drive he had. None of the new ones I had worked. The drive he had was probably 5-8 years old. So, I installed a fresh copy of xp, then installed 7 from inside xp. Took 2 or 3 days to do this, because we kept on having to bike back to my house, which is a 10 minute bike; to get copies of the os’s.
Never gonna give you up.... never gonna let you down.... but enough with the Rick Astley quotes. ;-)
The hard-disks back then were mostly P-ATA (parallel) drives and modern HDDs are S-ATA (serial) HDDs. So with a new laptop you would have most likely trouble connecting the drive to the controller without a special P-ATA->S-ATA adapter. But some (but not all) new desktop PC mainboards still have a P-ATA port.
So with a P-ATA compatible Mainboard you might be able to get a Linux distro on the HDD.
A adapter would look like this or that.
If you have only a S-ATA compatible Mainboard in your main desktop/laptop an adapter like this might do the trick.
Most compact Linux distros install all the drivers no matter what mainboard is used, so a system swap (new PC -> old PC) with the same HDD is more likely to work than on a windows based system. All hardware components are recognized on each start-up... many Linux live-cds use this technique. You have to decide if that's all worth the trouble and like Agenthex pointed out, you would probably not do it for the end result, but for the intellectual challenge.... especially if your machine has only the basic 64 MB ram.
Quite easily actually. I’ve done it quite a few times with success.
I know that Windows (I’m focusing on XP here) installs the necessary drivers for a particular machine, whereas I believe Linux carries all drivers/modules in the kernel, therefore it’s ready for every eventuality. The only problem might be if proprietary drivers are in use or required, but this is easy enough to sort.
I currently have 2 machines running with the complete drive and OS from a totally different machine with no problems whatsoever. 
Well, I must say that I never tried that with linux, and Win normally don’t work well (just like I said before). I’m quite a noob linux user, so good to know that this type of “install” works thanks 
nope… no floppy, no CD/DVD drive.
Thanks for all your help everyone…
Hey wait a minute, I just remembered I do have a USB hard drive enclosure. I can access the 60G drive as a USB storage media. but only using another PC / laptop.
!!!
How can I use that, is there some way (noob warning in effect)? I tried dragging / dropping the puppy-linux files onto the drive. But the Toshiba laptop still asks for a boot disk. (even though I have set the BIOS to prioritize the HDD).
A USB HHD is still ‘booting from USB’ and would only work if booting from a USB pendrive did.
However, there would not be a USB boot drive option in the bios. There rarely was and is. A USB drive only shows normally when you envoke the option to select the boot device at boot time by pressing a Function key (i.e. Fn Key) Unfortunately I do not know which key it is on your laptop but it will be one of the Function Keys.
My guess is that you laptop will boot from a USB pendrive. Even older Toshibas did. So leave the HD in the laptop. Install a Linux ISO (such as Puppy) on a pendrive using Unetbootin then put it in the laptop and try all the Fn keys at boot time. You’ll find one that works.
If your really up to the task then there is the option of installing thru PXE
Check if your laptop bios support PXE boot. If so then with another desktop/laptop on the same network you can follow the links below
Linux -> Install GNU/Linux without any CD, floppy, USB-key, nor any other removable media
Windows -> lockstockmods.net
got no PXE boot on your bios? there is still hope but only for windows (haven’t tried linux this way)
the option requires copying essential files to your 60gb hard drive first and install windows from there. check this guide -> Install Windows XP without floppy or cd drives - SysChat
hth
Normally F10 or F12, don’t remember well.
Anyway, in most cases, all shortcuts will be displayed on booting screen (on the bottom part, usually)
kramer, you still up? BestBuy's online clearance site Cowboom is having a 24hr notebook sale, goes as low as $89 each. Each time you refresh (F5), a different computer pops up. I've gotten a few of their $89 netbooks, pretty good and useful if you have the win7 install media, or if not, then use a usb drive to load linux.
sell your toshiba on ebay for $50 for parts, and get the cowboom netbooks (at leat 5 years newer than yours, and runs the latest Windows or Linux. good luck, I had the same problem you did, but ended up getting quite a few from cowboom, solved the problem :)
The boot flag my not be set on the HDD. Also unless you’re following instructions that say to drag & drop files, it won’t work.
Use LinuxLive USB Creator or Unetbootin to install DamnSmallLinux or Puppy. Check that it boots ok in the USB enclosure before moving it into the toshiba.
As others have asked, do you know how much RAM the toshiba has? Puppy normally needs 128mb , DSL says it can get away with as little as 16mb.
@AAx3 You’ve had win7 run well on a $89 laptop? o.o What specs?
^ @halo
when cowboom has the notebook clearance flash sale, keep pressing F5 and you'll see a different thing pop up. The lowest they go is $89, for that price I've had a few Asus eeePCs, HP minis, Toshiba n455 atoms, hell, even a sony vaio in like-new condition. I've also gotten crap from them, but their return policy is pretty good, so no worries there. They've added a rating system for their notebooks, anything above a 6-7 is usually in pretty good shape.
all of them will run win7home, but it's a bit slow on the atoms. the atom netbooks have a minimum 1.6ghz 1gb ram, so even the oldest $100 atom netbook will easily beat a 5yr old $3000 notebook. I know, it sucks that the answer to "can this be fixed?" is "buy a different one", but when you look at the prices, selling your old pc for parts can fetch you enough $$ for 2 or 3 of these netbooks. Dualboot linux on them, and you won't have to worry about downtime from the occasional windows hickup. :)