I was recently tasked with transferring files from a failed laptop. The laptop kind of worked, but some bad sectors had started to appear in a number of vital system files, so it was very unstable.
This was an old WIndows 98 system, and I could not simply plug in a USB drive, because there were no Windows 98 drivers around for the external USB drives that I had. In the end the disk had to be removed, and connected up to a working machine with a flying lead.
Since then, I have come across Puppy Linux. It seems to be ideal for this type of thing. By booting it directly from CDROM or USB key, it is possible to have a working Linux box in 60 seconds flat. It is then a simple matter of mounting the local drive, plugging in a USB drive, and transferring the files across.
Puppy Linux is not something I have ever come across before, but it is now a part of my standard toolbox. It also looks like the ideal platform for building custom appliances, such as video players and thin clients.