cmendla - 9:47 pm on Oct 5, 2010 (gmt 0)

OP - If you get to a point where you can't boot windows, consider an external USB hard drive enclosure.

I've had a lot of luck retrieving data as long as it isn't encrypted. You remove the HD and put it in the HD enclosure.

You can run into problems when viewing the drive in vista when you get into the documents and settings folder. You just need to allow Vista to take control of the folder.

If you aren't familiar with handling drives, I would only do this as a last resort.