Disk Read Error - Dell Inspiron 6000

I think XP SP2 overcame the 137GB limit.

As far as the whole drive corrupt, I would suspect the SD card reader driver as the culprit.

Yes, it is possible to attach a laptop hd to another computer through the USB port using an adapter, like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=IDE_to_USB_adapter-_-12-156-101-_-Product
this only accepts IDE type drives.
There are more expensive adapters that accept both IDE and SATA drives.

I would not install the hd from this computer into another laptop because the hardware is different and it either would not boot or to boot would make changes and then putting it back into the original laptop would cause more problems.
Simply attach it and use the working laptop to view what is on the hard drive and see if anything actually has to be deleted.

I still think the Ricoh sd card driver is the problem. Unfortunately without being able to boot into windows, even in safe mode to remove the driver is next to impossible.

 

Drivers can corrupt things in windows - that does not mean the entire drive is trashed.

I'm re-reading what you wrote and spotted this

I think your computer may be trying to read from something other than the hard drive - maybe perhaps the Ricoh card reader and if it doesn't find a card in the card reader, it shoots out this error.

Tap whatever key is needed (might be F1, F2 or esc) to get into the BIOS.
Look over the Boot options and for the time being, move the internal hard drive up to position number 1.
You'd then normally do F10 to save the change you made in the BIOS and escape so that windows can try to load.
See if the computer boots up windows.
If not, tell me what happens.

 

Sorry, if it refuses to boot from the hard drive, I don't know what else to tell you to do.

Maybe someone smarter than me knows how to repair windows on a hard drive attached to another computer; I haven't a clue how to do this.
Normally when any of my computers hiccup, I simply restore an earlier image of that computer.