Insert BOOK diskette error - Removing harddrive to save files question.

Okay to keep this short, a friends computer was running fine till today.
Now on restart she gets a "insert BOOK diskette in A:"
I played aroud with the BIOS disabling the diskette and a few other things, to no avail.

What I plan to do now is, take out the HD, put in a temporary one, reinstall windows for her. Question is, can I plug her HD into my computer and will it read it? So I can backup her outlook and other files?
Or will there be problems since I have windows on my computer as well?
Or could I put it in an external case and plug into my computer via the USB cable?
Thanks guys.

 

Typically yes. If your friends hdd is set to slave, windows should boot up. Then recognize a new drive, then ask for a reboot. After the reboot, you should be able to access the drive "cross fingers". Why do I type cross fingers? Pending on setup, you may have to change permissions on the files. If so, ask here, and we can help.

btw, book should be boot.

Also, is there a floppy stuck in the "a:" drive? I know you changed the bios to take this issue out. Just curious.

 

Fool, I'm not sure I follow your scenario, when should it boot up?
If I put it on my comp as a backup? or slave?

I did everything checked everything (even the obvious, floppy in drive lol).

 

Hook your friends HD on your PC as a slave drive or use an external case and USB the thing. Boot to your windows and everything should be OK. If you go the external/USB route, boot to your Windows first, then plug into the USB port and let Windows recognize and install the new hardware (friend's HD).
Then burn friend's stuff to CD/DVD or drag-n-drop it to an empty folder on your hard drive...... Piece-o-cake
hopperdave2000