Robert,
There is only one problem that I can see with what you describe - this is a notebook drive, therefore he needs something to put the old one in (USB drive unit or a USB-IDE/SATA adapter).
If he has access to an OS/2 based computer with an SATA interface, and the notebook drive is SATA, then there is the possibility of doing as you say. I still lean towards the USB connection method as it does not create problems with chkdsk that could happen if the defective drive is connected at boot.
Obviously once the drive is seen by a working OS/2 system then xcopy of the data is a simple matter. It is getting to the stage of the drive being seen by an OS/2 system that is the problem.
Ooops... sorry about that. Didnt remember that part. In that case (had similar situations in the past), I simply:
- stick the new drive in the machine, boot from the install disks, partition and format it, then pull it.
- Attach both machines to an OS/2 or eCS bootable machine (with no other drives connected)
- Boot the second machine from the install disks
- xcopy away...
That of course requires another machine. But only a couple added steps to get it all working.