XPS 1530--Data retrieval from bad HDD

I'm 'tech support guy' for my girlfriend's laptop...XPS 1530, running Windows Vista.  It had an internal hard drive (Samsung HM320JI) that went bad (wouldn't boot up).  She had Dell tech support come out and replace the defective hard drive.  They didn't retrieve any of my girlfriend's personal files from the old drive...she told tech support that I could get the files off the drive, so they left the drive with her (me).

Like I said, the old drive won't boot up, and I'm assuming I will be able to retrieve her files from the old drive...*.doc, *.jpg, etc.  I've retrieved files from desktop HDDs in the past (Master, Slave), but I've never done it with a laptop.  I know my way around inside a laptop, just not familiar with the procedure to retrieve the data.

Know of any step-by-step instructions?  Is there a 3-way cable (for laptops) that plugs into the laptop where the drive goes, and also to the bad and good HDDs?  Thus making it a simple process to move files from the bad HDD to the good HDD.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated !

Thanks !

Brent