Remove the hard drive from your computer, find another working machine and plug it in there.  Then you'll have a drive letter (sometime E: or later letter, C: is main drive D: is Cd/dvd) where you can access the directories and retrieve your files.\n\nFor Windows XP you "My Documents" directory will be located here:  "E:&#92;documents and settings&#92;username&#92;my documents"  where E: is the drive that shows up on the new computer, and username is the name you had your account setup for on your old computer.\n\nAnother method that's usually easier is to buy an external USB hard drive enclosure, about $30~$40 and install the old drive in it and plug it into a USB port on another computer.  Make sure the enclosure and the drive type match.