External hard drive failure
 

So, the strangest thing with my External hard drive has been happening recently. I accidentally deleted the linux mint 8 that was on there due to a small issue discussed on another thread(long story followed by a stupid mistake). after then i reinstalled linux using the .iso i found on the website. all is well. I boot up linux on the external and it runs great. then i turn off the laptop and try to plug it into another laptop( which i used the external hard drive on before and worked) and it went through the bios screen but then after slight lag(5 seconds longer then usual) the blinking cursor in the top left corner would not display anything, anything meaning "booting GRUB" or any other signs of activity. after waiting some time i quit and tried it back on the other laptop, which it was just working on, only to get the same result. I am confused about why it would work the first go around but nothing past that.

The only thing i altered on the external after i installed linux was that i put my home directory into it( from another version of linux mint)

And, did you test it after that change?

No "grub stage 1.5" message?
Mount the partitions and look for missing files.
Or just reinstall. This time being careful about transferring your home directory.

External Hard Drive Failure
 

A disk failure may occur in the course of normal operation, or due to an external factor such as exposure to fire or water or high magnetic waves, or suffering a sharp impact, which can lead to a head crash.

.... I need to be more resourceful, the reason it did not even try to boot was because i did not give it anything to boot with. i assigned it /dev/sdc1 and also gave it a boot loader which fixed my problem. =] which then allowed me to use the auto repair at the startup window on my original linux HD and also the fact that i got my usb to work, so i am a happy camper finally (prays not to touch and or alter linux files including Gparted again)

The external drive should be assigned via udev.
Having a bootloader would help - perhaps you used the first systems bootloader when you said you tested it?

Well - well done anyway.
Happy hacking.