Installing Debian from Hardrive?

I want to install Debian on my other computer to use as a home server but the cd rom on it is messed up and I was wondering if I could install the debian network install by using the hard drive instead of the disk.

 

Um, is the machine with the messed-up CD/DVD a WinXP machine by any chance? It's pretty common for those drivers to be messed up and it's pretty easy to fix.

 

One possibility is taking the hard drive from the computer with the broken CD drive, and connect it to the other computer so you can install from the working CD drive.

Another is if the computer without the working CD drive can boot from a USB device, use a USB drive as the install media instead of a CD.

Here's s'more info: http://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst

 

ya but it was a cd rom from a 98 and the bios isn't reconizing it, nor in my other computer.

 

Has the CD-ROM ever worked in this computer? (Sorry I can't offer anything concrete on doing a network install on the debian via hard drive.)