Can a Windows reinstall save data?

[stumble]

My old genealogy computer crashed this morning. I would like to save the data.  The Windows CD has a repair option, but it asks for a password, which I didn't set and don't have.   

I put in the System Mechanic rstore disk but I have to ckick a button to start it and I can't click anything.

The 5 restore floppies from the  Windows wep page don't do anything  without the running the Windows CD as well.

What else can I do to kick start this computer?

Sandy

[patio]

The HDD doesn't have to be able to boot to Windows to retrieve the data...the safest method right now would be to remove the drive and hook it up as a slave drive in a working machine with a burner.
Retrieve and burn to CD whatever data you need.
There is a repair method to re-install Windows but the risk of data loss is still there so try the above method first.