External CD Drive + Erase & Install Mac OS X

My computer has been acting up and after a visit to the genius bar they suggested that I back up my files and perform an erase and install on my machine. The problem is that my internal cd/dvd drive no longer works and I have to use an external cd/dvd drive. I put the CD in and after it didn't work I googled the problem only to find that according to the apple support site you must install using the original drive.

Are there any ways to get around the issue so that I can reinstall Mac OS X even though I don't have the original drive?

A Firewire Drive will let you install from it, especially from DVD. I'm not sure about CD, but I don't see why not.

G'day and welcome to the forums peachy.

Does help if you include model specs and PowerPC G5, G4 and G3s will boot ONLY from a Firewire external drive, optical or hard drive as Kevriano has advised.

If you have a tower, replacing the optical drive is easy and they are as cheap as chips. Bit harder for iMacs and laptops.