Best don't use any executable files (or actually any files at all, but certainly no executable files like a driver) from the old hdd after first scanning it for the virus and removing it. You know the old hdd has a virus so a scanner should find something.... A nice collection of potable applications (including a free virusscanner) can be found here: http://portableapps.com/apps
I don't know how to recover drivers, but drivers can normally be found on the site of the manufacturer of the hardware and this is the most sensible place to get the driver, if you have no driver-dvd's. Of cource you need to know what hardware you have in order to find the site of the manufacturer. For that purpose you can use a systeminformation-tool like this one: http://www.mitec.cz/msi.html It's easiest if the manufacturer of your laptop has a driver-page for your specific model, all drivers should be placed together there. But you could also visit the maufacturer site of the loose components most importantly the manufacturer of the motherboard.
When you have very old or exotic hardware you could search the internet for legacy drivers, but always be aware of virusses. Also using internet-driverscanners may be a potential security-risk.
After you have installed windows xp you can tell it you still need to install drivers by going to the device-management applet in the system-applet of windows xp. This applet may also give some info on the installed devices/hardware. Just after installing windows you wil probably see a lot of entries with yellow questionmarks, those are devices that still need drivers. When all drivers are installed properly there wil be no entries with questionmarks left.
Drivers you may need (i only have experiance with desktops though):
1: chipset-driver.
This driver makes windows use all features of the chipset of the motherboard and should always be installed first if needed/present. This driver might be found on the supportsite of your laptop, or on the supportsite of the motherboard, or on the site of the manufacturer of the chipset of your motherboard.
2: (wireless) ethernet-driver.
This driver gives support for the ethernet-chip/card and allows for connection to the internet, maybe it's already installed with windows though, but i think not.
3: motherboard functionality drivers.
The motherboard may contain certain features that may need a driver, like for instance an usb-driver. The tricky thing is that it's not always obvious you need those drivers. Therefor if the supportsite of the motherboard or laptop has any drivers that you don't know what they are for, but ment for your operating system, maybe just install them. If you can't use those sites though it may be quite hard to find those drivers but on the other hand your laptop may work without them maybe lacking some specific functionality.
4: sounddriver:
This wil be integrated with the motherboard since you are using a laptop, so just get it from the laptop/motherboard site or from the manufaturer of the sound-chipset used.
5: graphicsdriver:
Same as with sound but it may in higher-end laptop not be integrated in the motherboard. There may be alternate sources like the manufacturer of the videocard, or even the manufacturer of the chipset used on the videocard like nvidia or ati.
6: i/o drivers like webcam drivers, touchpad driver, mouse etcetera.
Wel these are typical laptop things i don't have experiance with, maybe a touchpad wil work with a native xp-driver, maybe specific drivers are available. If you use an external mouse though then it's driver can be found on the site of the manufacturer of the mouse.
When you keep having entries with questionmarks in the device-management applet after installing all drivers you can find, try figure out what that device can be and find a driver for them. But if your laptop works correctly it doesn't realy harm to leave those entries as they are. Tip: if an identification doesn't mean anything to you (this can be any string of text, like an error-code, or whatever) then these strings are actually good search parameters to search the web with, and if they give results they a likely on topic.
additional info
oops ;-)
May i suggest to give specific info on what devices you need drivers for, including brand, model-nr.? You need the drivers for the harddrive? That's all? Wel it must be quite an old hdd then, better get a new one.
Also i find it strange you need a hdd-driver with windows xp, do you have some extremely old or exotic non-ide hdd? Or maybe you have a new sata-hdd? If you are bumping against a problem with the hdd when installing windows xp make sure that if you use a sata hdd it's in ide-emulation mode because windows xp doesn't support sata natively, or use an ide-hdd, or use a special procedure to get windows xp installed on a sata hdd.