data recovery service, catastrophic failure

[Nathan Aubrey]

How about this. Hook the system backup, but remove that drive, so it doesn't 
get damaged.  Try to boot with a Knoppix disc and see if the system loads, 
seems stable, crashes... whatever.

If it boots and seems stable, shut it down, put the drive back in and boot up 
with Knoppix again. If I remember correctly, Knoppix will give you an icon on 
the desktop of the partitions it finds mountable, when you click on them, it 
will mount them read only, or mount them your self, READ ONLY.

Paruse your data and see if it's available, If it is, can you transfer it to 
your mac over a network?

nathan