How can I install winxp to bootcamp on imac with bad optical drive?

I have a mid-2007 20" aluminum Intel-based iMac and I'm having trouble getting a clean install of MacOS10.5.8 and Win XP (through Bootcamp) on a new drive.
The problem stems from the fact that I have no internal optical drive. My Superdrive began acting up a while ago (couldn't recognize, read from, or write to DVD). I replaced the drive, but the problem persisted. Calling Apple Support, they determined (guessed?) the problem was the logic board, and, as the machine is out of warranty, isn't worth replacing. No big deal - I've been using an external USB optical drive when needed.
However, my hard drive is beginning to experience issues (SMART Failure), and I want to reinstall everything MacOS, Bootcamp/Win XP on a clean new drive. The problem is that I cant resinstall Win XP to Bootcamp without an internal drive (which seems unlikely to ever work). I've tried creating a bootable USB key with the XP installation files going through the Bootcamp installation process using the WintoFlash/rEFIt method, but to no avail (won't recognize boot from USB).
Is it possible to remove the internal hard drive, boot from MacOS (10.5.8) on an external drive, and connect the optical drive to the sATA port where the internal drive was? Or is there a second sATA port on these logic boards? Or can I somehow connect the USB optical drive in a way that the iMAC thinks it's internal? I'm not afraid of digging into the iMAC (changed HDD and Superdrive already).
Is there anyway to test the pATA connection on my logic board to find out if it's really the problem? If it's not, maybe I can install WinXP on a second Windows formated drive, to take the space of the internal Superdrive.
There must be some good ideas out there somewhere. Barring that, my only other option is to use Parallels and take the performance hit that comes with running a virtual machine. UGH!

Actually, when I followed that link, one of the related links in More Like This was a real find! An actual download of Aperture, albeit a trial, but that would have solved my problem too. I tested it and although it's embeded in a support article, the link to the trial version of Aperture still works.
Thanks! Great info here if you can find it.

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Message was edited by: WorkerBee

Actually, when I followed that link, one of the related links in More Like This was a real find! An actual download of Aperture, albeit a trial, but that would have solved my problem too. I tested it and although it's embeded in a support article, the link to the trial version of Aperture still works.
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How can I install winxp to bootcamp on imac with bad optical drive?

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