Wooliewillie,

I don't know how confident you feel with computers but, if you feel reasonably confident, this is something that I'd try...

1. Go to http://www.ubuntu.com/ and download the latest version of Ubuntu. It's free. (It's not compulsory to donate through PayPal.)

2. This will be an iso file. Burn the ISO image to a DVD (it's an option in burning software).

3. Ubuntu operates as a Live DVD which means that you can boot up from it and run it as an operating system.

4. Set your bios to boot up from CD/DVD. Now boot up from the DVD. When asked, simply choose the "install later" or "do not install" option (or equivalent).

5. By running Ubuntu (Linux) as your operating system from the DVD, it might give you access to your hard drive that contains the files you are after so that you can copy them to a new location.

6. I have done this in the past with a number of computers with hard disk issues. Sometimes I've been lucky and retrieved data, sometimes I have not. It's worth a try though.

If you are not feeling confident with computers and with what I've said above, it would be better not to try the above.

Just a thought.

All the best,
Noel


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