Rescuing data from a hard drive without using Windows

[fredtitmus]

Stupid question but is it possible?

Windows won't boot with my second (slave) drive connected, nor will it even allow me to install Windows. However, I've got a lot of important docs on there as it's my backup drive and I couldn't afford a DVD-RW, so I was hoping this hard drive wouldn't go haywire on me.

BIOS recognises the hard drive is there and it was working fine - albeit in PIO mode - up until Sunday, then it just started being stubborn and I couldn't get anywhere, just going round in circles formatting, reinstalling, formatting, reinstalling.

If it is possible, how do I copy all the data from my second drive to my first drive without using Windows? Can I use a disk image program in DOS?

 

[fredtitmus]

Cheers for the advice, just tried using UBCD4W/BartPE but couldn't get it to boot at all. I'll try burning another, perhaps the ISO went wrong.

If the second hard drive is attached, regardless of the boot sequence specified, nothing boots and I get 'select proper boot device or insert boot media'. Without it and with my PM as boot device Windows loads fine.

The second hard drive is recognised by the BIOS, in POST it says 'S.M.A.R.T. status Capable and OK', same as for the first drive.

Any other ideas?

 

[fredtitmus]

Job done, UBCD4W worked a treat - thanks a lot.