Thinking a bit more, I'd now suggest that you contact a local Mac User Group to put you in touch with someone nearby who has the necessary hardware and expertize to access your hard drive and move your data forward. Doing it yourself would involve collecting hardware that you otherwise likely wouldn't have much use for plus likely a certain amount of trial & error. A knowledgeable person with the right equipment could likely take care of you in an hour or two. There's a list of MUGs at http://www.wap.org/external/wapusergrouplist.html