Vista failed update

I was running a windows update last week, power tripped during the update, and when I tried to boot my laptop back up it keeps going to stage 3/3 then resetting. It does it on safe mode and when I've tried to run repairs it says no errors found and no roll back found. Is there anyway to fix this or copy my data off it before rebooting it? My external hdd has already been installed

 

If you have another computer to work with you can pull the "C" drive from your laptop, connect the laptop drive via USB enclosure and get your data off of it on to the other computer. The external hdd should still hsve whatever data you put on it so, it could be connected to the other computer as well so you can check it to be sure.

From what I'm understanding, now you can't even get to your desktop when you reboot because the computer gets "stuck" at stage 3 of configuring updates. Repairs didn't work and it gets "stuck" even in safe mode. The only thing I can suggest is doing a clean install of Vista after you've gotten your data off of the drive.

 

Ok, how do I transfer the data?

 

My favorite tool is Apricorn's DriveWire tool, but you can get a 2.5" external enclosure if that suits. Should you happen to have a smaller form factor like a 1.8", you'll need a microSATA adapter.

Either way, you'll be connecting it via a USB cable to another PC. You'll have to take ownership of the drive, and copy your user folder to the HDD in the PC or a flash drive. Either method would be effective depending on your preference.