I thought I would share a "win" based on information I got from this thread (thanks Chaos!). A lady who runs a small business had water splashed on her laptop by her kids. No backups (argh!). Motherboard fried.

Staples told her there was no hope of getting her files back, and sold her another laptop. I put her hard drive in another machine and ran a couple of Linux live CDs I have kicking around. Couldn't mount the drive. Then I ran a live CD of Zorin OS Lite, and I was able to retrieve three years of business records, course work, and family photos.

She was understandably relieved, and grateful. That extends to you guys.