Bootable CD/DVD/Thumb Drive

I have multiple occasions when I have a PC on which I would like to reinstall the operating system but would like to recover files from a non-corrupted hard drive but the operating system is hosed by a virus or an unknown system file and I can not use the GUI. So, like in the days of DOS, I would like use a CD/DVD/Thumb drive to boot the PC with enough drivers to copy files from the hard drive to a USB external hard drive and/or the Thumb Drive. I don't care if the answer is accomplished via a text based or GUI based solution.

Any clues?

Gus

get a usb to SATA/PATA adapter then you can take out the Hard drive and connect it to another working PC and recover files.

Something like this
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

sweetride98 wrote:

get a usb to SATA/PATA adapter then you can take out the Hard drive and connect it to another working PC and recover files.

Something like this
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2329300&CatId=3770

This was not what I had in mind, but I think it is a better solution. Thanks for taking the time to help.

Gus