possible to run the itunes app from an external hd? or manage media w/o it?

kind of a nub when it comes to itunes functionality...and this forum..

but my issue is i have a work laptop and a 20 hr flight ahead of me and really need more than the 8gigs i have on my nano..

is it possible to run itunes from an external drive? or just manage the media without itunes? like manaully dragging files to the ipod using windows?

any help or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated..

thanks