Can't find My Documents after a disc read error

[stinger107]

My brother's computer is giving a disc read error when he tries to start it up.
I tried fixboot and chkdsk but that didn't work. I was going to try re-installing windows but it won't let me without formatting the drive and since the data on the drive isn't backed up I can't do that. I put the drive onto my computer and it seems to work but I can't find his My Documents folder and that is where all his stuff is that he needs backed up. Can anyone tell me how to find the My Documents folder, and is there a way to re-install windows without formatting the hard drive?  When I look at the properties of the drive it says the total size is 114 GB with 5.54 GB free but when I add up the size of everything that shows inside the drive it comes to 68.5 GB. That is including all the hidden folders. The missing amount would be about right for the My Documents folder as that is where he keeps his multimedia stuff.
The hard drive is a SATA Maxtor 6Y120M0

[Deerpark]

On XP My documents default location is C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\My Documents
On Vista the folder is called Documents and is located at C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Documents

If the hard drive is giving you read errors it could be failing. I suggest you backup the data you need on  it and check it over with the diagnostics tool from the hdd manufacturer. In this case Seatools.

[soybean]

On XP My documents default location is C:\Documents and Settings\[USERNAME]\My Documents
On Vista the folder is called Documents and is located at /url].

He removed the hard drive from it's home computer and put it in another, apparently configured as slave.  So, he won't simply be able to open the My Documents folder on that drive, right? 

[Deerpark]

I did say default location...
He will of course have to change the drive letter to whatever the drive is assigned to in his computer.

[soybean]

Is it that simple or will he still be restricted because it's not logged onto the user account under which the My Documents folder on that hard drive was created?

[Deerpark]

Unless the user have chosen to make his files private, accessing the folder shouldn't be a problem.
If the user have set his profile to private the OP will get an access denied error.
This can be circumvented, but lets take one problem at a time.

[stinger107]

That doesn't work.  It just says cannot find file, make sure the path or address is correct.

[Deerpark]

Is it only My documents that's missing or is it his entire user folder?
You did replace [USERNAME] with his actual username right?

[stinger107]

It is only the My Documents folder that is missing.   Everything else that he had on the computer is still there.  And yes I dind replace username with his actual user name.

[Deerpark]

Some people (my self included) move the My documents folder from its default location. Try searching for "My documents" on the drive or even better search for a file your brother knows is in the folder.

If it has completely disappeared the file system might be damaged and will need repair. In that case:
Go to Start and select Run...
type CMD and hit enter.
In the command prompt type chkdsk [The drive letter for his drive] /R. E.g. if his drive is D: you would type chkdsk D: /R
If you get a warning about the volume being in use by another process select Y to force a dismount.
Depending on the size of the drive the check might take a while.

[stinger107]

I tried that and it said it fixed some stuff but the folder is still gone.  I have tried specific searches to no avail.  I found a program called recover my files and I am going to see if it can find and recover anything for me.