You can try a repair install which normally will preserve your programs
and data, but I would highly suggest you back up your data *first*
because Stuff Happens. It is completely possible to back up data from
an undamaged hard drive without booting into Windows. Use Knoppix or a
Bart's PE. This will take a fairly high degree of skill; only you know
if this will be something you can do. If not, have a professional
computer repair shop do it for you.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
How-To
Data retrieval - Knoppix:
You will need a computer with two cd drives, one of which is a cd/dvd-rw
OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to hold your data OR an
external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32 (not NTFS). To get
Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet connection and
third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso and create your
bootable cd. Then boot with it and it will be able to see the Windows
files. If you are using the usb thumb drive or the external hard drive,
right-click on its icon (on the Desktop) to get its properties and
uncheck the box that says "Read Only". Then click on it to open it.
Note that the default mouse action in the window manager used by
Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open instead of the traditional MS
Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the K3b burning program to burn
the files to cd/dvd-r's.
http://www.knoppix.net
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ - Bart's PE Builder
Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
