Recovering files from a laptop

I recently got on my hands a laptop that seems to have a faulty windows installation, it keeps rebooting once it enters windows.

I want to take the files out, nuke the partition and then reinstall windows (repair  install doesn't work). Is there any way to do it without taking the drive out and sticking it into a 2.5" enclosure?

Hmm. Maybe. My last option is to try and use some sort of LiveCD. Maybe with a network interface, log onto my main machine and maybe transfer files through it. Never done it before and maybe its not even possible, but I should at least try.