Grandma

From the owner of the largest computer sales and service store for 15 years - south Orange County, CA (I will not plug my store - no name provided) You had a good start - use a USB Bootable Drive - that's step 1 You can also use an external USB hard drive - but won't need that to get started. Step 2: go to another PC Step 3: download a small bootable version of Linux that boots off a USB Flash Drive. You might not stick with it later - they often lack features that Windows has but as a TOOL to do this job - get your data back - its the best thing since its free and boots right off a USB Flash Drive on 90% of all PCs out there today. DO NOT download some mega-large Linux hard drive recovery tool. Honestly, most of them are junk - even at free - and take a long time to download. Good Choices are: a) Pocket Rocket Linux - easily reads NTFS data automatically - small and fast to download B) Tiny Core Linux - probably the smallest of them all but requires a bit of configuration to read NTFS drives c) Puppy Linux - a bit fatter than A or B, but can be configured to read NTFS d) Knoppix - usually installs from CD - not USB - so its the biggest/fattest to download and that can take hours. Suggest A or B Step 4: configure your BIOS to boot from a removable device first - i.e. your new USB flash drive Step 5: insert finished USB drive (5 minutes using A or B, 60 minutes using C, 3 - 6 hours using D) and reboot Step 6: connect a large external USB hard drive (not Flash Drive) and most of the Linux packages above will see it Step 7: right click - select all - copy - drag and drop/paste the key folders and files you want. Usually My Documents is a good place to start. Step 8: figure out what is missing on your Windows system. You can even get online - get other tutorials - and then go to your original Windows boot CD to find the exact file you need - just recopy that and you're often fixed and don't need a complete install. This is important, since keycodes expire after a certain number of installs. DO NOT (be careful) download specific Windows files - they are often infected. Try to use your original, manufactured/authentic Windows CD. Hope this helps.