The computer you're on right now, does it have a working CD burner and software that can burn a .ISO, such as Nero Express? If so, one quick bailout might be to download a trial version of WindowsXP Pro x64 Edition, and do a
parallel installation to use in order to recover your files and copy them to someplace safe.
download WinXP Pro x64 Edition trialware, good for 120 days. Obviously, you need a 64-bit CPU to do this (Opteron, Athlon64, or a 64-bit Intel CPU).
Another option is to go out and buy WinXP at a retail store, or hit your school's IT department up for some quick help, or put your drive into a working computer to recover your files.
If your files were stored in the C:\Documents and Settings\
your username directory, you will need to take Ownership of the directory in order to get in there.
1) Go to C:\Documents and Settings
2) click View > Folder Options and go to the View tab. Scroll down and uncheck "Use Simple File Sharing."
3) right-click the
your username folder and choose Sharing & Security, go to the Security tab, and click the Advanced button. A new panel opens.
4) on the new panel, click the Owner tab and assign ownership of the directory and subdirectories to the user account you're logged on with now.
On WinXP Home systems, you can't disable Simple File Sharing, so boot in Safe Mode and you'll be able to get to Sharing & Security while in Safe Mode to do this stuff.
