PC Laptop - want to salvage files

[X-ray]

I have a friend's laptop here. It is an Acer Travelmate (TM222X). She has attempted to install another OS on it: the sticker on the back says it came with XP and she tried to install 98 on it. Anyway it now boots straight to a 98 setup wizard and the only other option is to shutdown if the details are not entered. Now I can only assume that the installation cannot continue because she doesn't have the original disk. That's why the machine doesn't boot anymore.
That's not my problem and I am not going to try to fix it but what I would like to do is try to get her photos off the hard-disk and backed up onto a CD so she can reinstall the XP. What I thought of doing is taking the drive out of the laptop and connecting it as a slave to my desktop. Is this feasible? Are there any pitfalls? I know I have to jumper the drive as slave, but what else do I need to do?

[X-ray]

Thanks for fast replies dudes...I will see what I can do but if this 2.5 to 3.5 adapter is pricey, I'll not go much further here. She's on her own then.

[X-ray]

@ Bloodline

You are the mutt's nuts, my good man. I am downloading Knoppix Live as we speak. Should take me 50 minutes at 233kb/s. I already have an external USB/Firewire drive and I'll see what I can do. (I'm absolutely clueless about Linux and Knoppix, so this could be interesting).

[X-ray]

@ Cyberus

Ta for manual  :-)

@ Thread

This bird better be hoping and praying.

[X-ray]

Well, I have the Knoppix ISO downloaded and I have burned it to CD. Now...I changed boot order in BIOS to CD first, and the CD boots and I get the Knoppix screen with 'Press enter to boot from CD'. There is quite a bit of CD activity after that but then nothing. Black screen. This happens on my XP desktop with 2gb of RAM, even if I select the option of load all to RAM. Tried the CD on the laptop: same deal. Black screen. I am looking for clues online and in the manual but so far I don't know what the problem is  :-?

[X-ray]

Okay I tried vga=normal and I was treated to a nice error message in the background: crc error.
Burned another CD, tried that, same result on both machines.
The frikken downloaded ISO must be corrupt...or am I thick?
Trying another one, I'll look for older version just in case.

[X-ray]

The plot thickens. I downloaded another ISO image of Knoppix, version 3.8, from a different site. I burned that ISO and I have the same problem. CRC error during unpacking. I can't see why. I have used three different blank CDs (my last three in fact) for this and Nero has been quite reliable. I don't get it. If somebody can post a link to a known working download, I'd appreciate it. I'll get more blanks and try again tomorrow.
Any idea why else I could get crc errors like this?

Edit: @ Trooper

Failsafe doesn't help

[X-ray]

Excuse me while I plod along, but I am learning at the same time here...I used Quickpar and the MD5 file associated with the ISO that I downloaded, and it reports my downloaded ISO image as being 'good'. So either it isn't burned properly on CD or there is a problem with that version and my hardware. Can't find older versions than 3.8.1

[X-ray]

@ Countzero

I tried Featherlinux (I have a few 150mb 8cm CDs that I usually use for my camera).
It works in that it loads and I could access the internet and use all the programs. That gives me a bit of confidence in my ISO burning process. However I can't access the Windows drives - is it possible that you aren't allowed to access them with Featherlinux?

@ Amiga Ed

When I have more full size blanks I will try dynebolic. I have downloaded the ISO and checked with the MD5 file, it is 100%.

[X-ray]

@ All

I tried messing about with manual mounting on Featherlinux and I got permission denied. Basically I gotta know my limitations, and I am really not the one to be trying to manually mount stuff via Linux (which I don't know from a bar of soap) on a strange laptop (which I do know from a bar of soap, but cannot comment much further  ;-))
So I tried Dyne:bolic and I found out a few things about this bird's laptop.
Firstly it hasn't been wiped, in fact I think everything is still there. All the pictures and documents are in the My Documents folder within her user folder. Secondly there are some programs like Photoshop and a few printer utilities in the Programs folder, so it looks promising that all the files are there. I mean, it is spartan compared to what I expected to find, but maybe she has a spartan binary lifestyle.
Next step: see if my external USB drive is recognised -----> Yes. Okay, that's good but now there is a problem. The laptop drive is NTFS (one partition) and my external USB drive is also NTFS. So no write with Dyne:bolic is possible. I can't change the external drive because it is an 80gb drive with about 70gb of encrypted folders on it (these are root encrypted and DESLock doesn't let you copy or move those otherwise I could dump them on my desktop SATA raid pair, which still has about 340gb free). I would have to decrypt it all and save it over and then reformat to FAT32..nah not going to.
So, I am stuck with NTFS. I tried SystemRescueCD and it loads successfully into a console...no good for me because I'll need a gui to select files to copy. I don't even know where they all are: I am going to be browsing around like a schoolkid in a library.
So, I am very close to helping this poor woman out, but I am now in search of an NTFS-writable gui that boots from CD. I'm trying some of the other suggestions...I can't write the RIP .bin so I am looking for alternatives.
Thanks for the great advice dudes, I am learning something here. I have kept that little Feather Linux CD because it so cool...who would have thought you could boot off a small CD and go online, easy as that?

[X-ray]

If NTFS is a no go then all I can do is give the laptop back with the Dyne:bolic CD and tell the girl to get a 1gb USB pendrive and shuttle the files to another computer. If she wants the files badly enough she will have to do it, otherwise it is end of the line for this recovery.

Edit: I cannot get the drive out of this unit and upon closer inspection of this laptop I think it is best I don't jerk around with taking things out. If something goes wrong, I'll have to pay for it.

[X-ray]

@ All

I think I'll stop trying the Linux for now (the pen drive is an option for the girl to consider if nothing else works) and I'll try Countzero's suggestion of Bart's Boot CD. I'm getting the lady's orignal XP CD and I'll see what PE Builder can do.

Thanks for all the help...I have gone far enough with this laptop.

[X-ray]

@ DoctorQ

I can't take the laptop drive out, and if I could I would not bring it near my Miggy as it is NTFS. Also the Miggy drives aren't big enough. I would dump it on my PC (has a lot of space). But I'm not removing it, not taking the chance. I guess if it was my data and I was desperate for it, I would try a few more daring things, but it's not my laptop and I'm being cautious.