Hi! I admire your attitude to stay at this. I will do my best to help you. Here's a link for your printer.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?cc=us&lc=en&product=3390949
If you install the drivers on your borrowed computer, it will not affect your other computer when you get it running again.
You can burn a ISO file with Linux on it and see if your Vista will boot with it. This Linux does not need a HD. I'm not sure just how it works, but it uses the RAM some how. I use the Lucid Puppy to test with. It will look very different when it boots to Linux. My theory is ;if you can boot Lucid Puppy, then your HD is bad, but you can still recover your data if the HD is not totally wasted. I'm going to ask for some help on your issue.
http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm
If you decide to get Lucid Puppy a go, here's what you can exspect to see.
http://www.sevenforums.com/software/198909-lucid-puppy-way-recover-files-non-bootable-computer.html
Dokie!