Problem regarding hard drive booting?

hello,
i'm very new to these kind of forums, but my problem is as follows:
a few days ago i was having some problems with my laptop's speed so i shut it down and thought nothing of it. the other day, i attempted to boot it up as normal and it wouldn't do anything. i tried in safe mode - nothing. at one restart there was a flash of a BSOD, so i figured i must have caught a virus. i've now attempted to save my files via a SATA/IDE connection, and here is my problem.. after i've plugged everything in it shows up in my computer, but it seems like there is nothing on the drive.. i've used this kind of connection many times before and have never had any problems recovering my files.. does anyone know what could be the problem? my hdd from my laptop is a hitachi 5k750 and it runs windows 7 x64 and the computer i'm using is running at a 32bit OS. could that be the reason why it doesn't want to open? the only other option i see is to do a factory reset, but i'm desperate to avoid this as i have so many files i didn't get to back up and it would be a huge loss to me if i had to take this option. i would appreciate any help!

Thanks!

The steps in the first tutorial posted above by koolkat show you how to rescue your files from boot which may be your best approach. I would then test my HD with maker's HD Diagnostic extended CD scan and Disk Check.

If your files are showing at boot then proceed with disinfecting and attempting to repair your PC as given in the steps. You'll then know you've done everything before running Recovery or Clean Reinstalling.

Always keep your files backed up externally by dragging or syncing to the cloud. Using Skydrive you can sync 7gb free for each Windows Live ID. Sync Any Folder to Your SkyDrive Account | PCWorld