Max,

Thank you for the reply and ideas.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the best way for me to connect/access my broken HD once I replace it with a new one?
Can I make the bitstream copy of the hard-drive like you are suggesting to an external storage drive?

I should have provided more information previously - I am using a Toshiba Satellite P25-S477 laptop with WinXP.

Thank you.