BSOD file recovery - access denied

I am getting BSOD on every reboot. For a while this has been happening, but after a few boots it would go into Windows. Now it BSODs every time.

I threw in the XP Pro Cd, booted from it, and went into recover mode. Now I am trying to copy the only important directory on the drive....my photos.

I will then just reformat, as the computer was obviously in need of that anyway. I am in DOS inside recovery mode (i think), and i can see all the folders (as well as the files inside them and their size, etc) i want to copy to my USB key, but getting "access is denied" on all of them.

Any help much appreciated. Thanks!
Mike

 

Recovery Console cannot be used to back up data unless you hacked the registry to allow it previously when booting.

What is the error, verbatim that you are getting.

 

You could try booting from an Ubuntu Live disk, which will run Ubuntu straight from the CD. From there you can get access to your files. Simply copy them to your USB drive.

Alternatively you could buy a hard disk enclosure.