boot from usb external drive?

My Inspiron 5150 NEC drive doesn't work anymore. I can replace it for an original one that is 4x writing speed of a DVD+R.

Also my garantee expired so I have to buy an old model which is rather expensive.

Another option is buying a nice new USB2 or firewire extern model which has 16x speed.

My only question is if I can boot or install windows xp from the original cd with this USB extern version.

My BIOS version of this inspiron is A38

In BIOS I have the following info:

 

Boot order:

-diskette drive
-usb storage device
-internal HDD
-CD/DVD/CD-RW drive
-cardbus NIC
-onboard NIC

The system searches for operation system files on devices in this list.
If the first device is not bootable, not present or not enabled, the system
will move to the below device.

In the Boot Menu (F12) I read the following:

 

- internal HDD
-CD/DVD/CD-RW drive
-cardbus NIC
-on board NiC
-diagnostics

Question... can I boot from the external USB burner yes or no???

And... if not... should I update my BIOS to make that possible perhaps???

Can anyone help me, if that is the case, with an update of this version A38 BIOS???

 

Well, I hope there is someone out there who can give me some good advice!

 

Take care,

 

aMiGuiTo