OK, so I get a fair number of requests from clients to rescue, copy, and/or move files that are located on an old, damaged, decrepit, and/or broken Windows machine.  Usually the hard drive is fine, sometimes the machine might even be able to boot up.  Most of the time, we're talking about hundreds (thousands) of files; documents, QuickBooks records, and most importantly, family pictures. 

My usual (and pretty successful) approach has been dependent on whether the machine will boot into Windows.  If it won't boot, then I'll slave the machine's hard drive into one of my own machines and copy away.  If it will boot, the process depends on what version of Windows they have (or had, as the case may be).  Newer versions of Windows (98SE, 2000 Pro, ME, and all flavors of XP) support USB, so I can just plug in my handy external drive and copy away. 

If the old machine has Windows NT, 98 (First Edition), BackOffice Server, or something older, I'm back to slaving their hard drive into my PC for some copying. 

Here's the problem.  I don't like having someone else's old hard drive (full of who-knows-what) in my computer.  Also, I don't like messing around inside a computer that's close to a decade old...I find that the dust has settled just right, and to mess with any components could cause an oily-dust-shift (I just totally made up that term) that can kill a processor fan or short out a mobo circuit. 

Enter my new plan: a Knoppix Live CD.  As long as the motherboard can boot from the CD drive, I'm in business.  Boot to Linux, and I have read access to the entire hard drive (or drives).  Attach an external USB drive, Knoppix recognizes it, and I'm off to the races.  Copy, copy, copy, unplug the drive, take out the CD, and reboot the machine.  It's like I was never there. 

You gotta love Linux, if only for that kind of simplicity.