Unmountable boot volume on Windows XP PC - hard disk recovery experiences?

[Twitterqueen]

I know I should have replaced my PC by now - and the OS
I also know that I should have backed up all my files - but I didn't.

now it's broken. :(

I need to take out the HDD and send it away I believe to get the files off (and buy a new PC so I can email again).

Any advice / experiences?

Any thoughts on doing it yourself, TQ?

Eg to start with, you could burn a rescue disk and see if you can access the files yourself, or fix the problem

www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-express/

...assuming you can borrow another computer or have a spare in the house, to create the disk?

You'll also need something to transfer the files to of course, eg an external hard disk.

...Also try repairing using windows utilities, eg
www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2605/fixing_the_dreaded_unmountable_boot_volume_error/

Buy a magazine like Linux Magazine and install the free Linux program. It's brilliant, it takes up only 3GB of disk space and seems to work faster. Plus, the online forums (fora?) tell me I don't need AV as they tend to not write malware for Linux.

I love it.

Thanks all.
I'll look into those 2 options and see if I can resolve it myself first.

Another vote for linux install. There are many different 'flavours' (or brands) of linux, but I'd recommend linux mint for a new user as it just 'works'.
Also, linux will often enable you to read information from corrupt harddrives (enabling you to copy any files/docs you need) where windows just fails.