Crashed HDD, will thiswork?

My 500GB disc crashed (pure software crash), boot.ini is gone or whatever. If I reinstall Windows, it will be formatted, something I don't want, so will this work:

Buy a new harddisc, install Windows on it, plug in the old disc as a D drive, get acces to my documents? I do need a new HDD, 500GB is too small, so is this the best way to go?

I really appreciate help! :D

My 500GB disc crashed (pure software crash), boot.ini is gone or whatever. If I reinstall Windows, it will be formatted, something I don't want, so will this work:

Buy a new harddisc, install Windows on it, plug in the old disc as a D drive, get acces to my documents? I do need a new HDD, 500GB is too small, so is this the best way to go?

I really appreciate help! :D

Jor297

Have you tried booting to your Windows disc and running the repair thing?C_Rule

Have tried everything. The only option is reinstall. And I also need a new harddisc so I think imma go for a 2TB one.