hdd recovery

I have a dell8400, i had a hdd crash with a dell code 7. so when i try to boot up i get a win 32 syste file missing or corupt. dell came out and replaced hdd. i was able to keep bad hdd . so i studied the internet found out i have a sata Maxtor drive. then i studied recovery for hdds. i downloaded a boot floppy and was able to see logical drives. but i could not figure out how to retrive them. so then i downloaded a stellar trial hdd recovery software. i followed directions from the site as follows . install the bad drive as a slave drive and see if you can see the folders. on my dell i really couldnt set up as slave in terms it only gave me options as raid or dhcp or combination. but i was able to run progam and see the names of all the prgrams in win exploer form (tree). but it never showedd the folders on the right. finally the progam would stop and give me an error code. i called the makers of the program they stated it was because i was running win xp srv.pk 2 and to install the bad hdd in a pc with win 98. which i cant do.i am a swim team manger for 52 kids. and i lost 2 seasons of times and important data. i know now how to back uit up. but please if anyone can help me i would greatly app. it. if i had the money i would just send it of and pay the 400 to 3900 dollar quotes i was given. because of this i have learned alot but im still limited. i havent told the swim team bd yet im not paid for this i voluteered for this and i screwed upPLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN DEWEEKS

The best thing to do is find another computer and install the drive as a slave. Maybe a friend will do it for you or you can use one of the scools computers. In the Dell you may be able to remove the CD drive and install the HD in its place and copy the files to the new HD.