Win 7 64-bit not booting from USB optical drive

Hello everyone.

I'm trying to install Win 7 Pro 64-bit to my early-2011 MacBook Pro and am running into some difficulties. I've recently installed a second internal HDD where the optical drive was, and put the drive into a USB case I bought from OWC. I'm thinking this may be where my problem is arrising.

After using Boot Camp Assistant to create a new partition my MBP reboots to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner. I can hear and feel the USB optical drive spin up but after a few seconds it spins down then doesn't do anything more. The Windows installer doesn't launch at all. Am I just stuck?

I've tried imaging the Windows DVD to a USB stick but Disk Utility keeps throwing errors; I'm assuming this is because the optical disc is copy protected. I would appreciate suggestions for what my options are. Although I'm probably going to have to put the optical drive back into my MBP, arent' I?