How do I start up from an external HDD?

My G4 crashed last night, so I need to start up from my external HDD which has the OS installed on it too, to repair my normal Internal start up drive.
I've forgotten how though and I need some important files within the next half hour.
If anyone knows how, please let me know ASAP.
Thanks.

Hi Merc
First of all, let me caution you that drive/data recovery and urgent access to your files are pretty much mutually exclusive. If your data can be recovered, you'll need to exercise patience.
Second, do you have a backup of your valuable data? If so, how old is it, and how much effort would it be to bring it up to current status?
If you don't have a backup, let me recommend that you set one up as soon as this process is done.
So, first, run Disk Utility either from the secondary drive (an OS X volume, I assume?) or from your install CDs. (Running it from the drive will be a bit faster.) If Disk Utility is able to see your primary volume, run Repair Disk on it and see if that corrects the issue.
If that doesn't work, my next recommendation would be to purchase and run DiskWarrior. You can get a download as soon as you purchase it, and run it from your secondary drive. If your drive issue is a corrupted directory (very common), DiskWarrior will attempt to repair it. This program is a great investment, and I'd recommend it for almost any Mac user.
If your drive issue is physical (ie, it's dead, and no software can recover it), there's not much you can do at home, but a specialised data recovery service may be able to help you.
Good luck!
Matt

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http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/c6/3c333b40389c46e10000000a114084/content.htm
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http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/1b/e81c3b84e65e7be10000000a11402f/frameset.htm
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Reward points for useful Answers
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