text: how to recover hard drive data when windows xp will not boot? my computer was set to automatic updates from windows, and when it last updated and prompted me to restart, upon restart the computer would not complete post.  it gets to the windows xp page, but then goes to the page with safe boot options.  no matter which option i choose, including last known good configuration, it will not complete post and returns back to the safe mode boot page in an endless loop.  i just want to know how i can fix this or if i have to reformat, i need to know how to recover my data from my documents w/o losing it. 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.  for 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.  another 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.