Need help with file back-up

I would appreciate anyone's help on my situation. My vista crashed and I need to reinstall Vista but I don't know if I ever backed up my files. I cannot get in safe mode and I cannot get to the start menu. How do I back up my files in this situation before reinstalling Vista?

Thanks
osufans

By the way, I get the dreaded blue screen with the error message x00000050

One way is to attach the hard disk to another Windows computer, either internally or via a USB adapter. Then you can copy your document files from i using Windows Explorer.

If you can't remove the system HD, there's an alternative:
Use a bootable CD of Linux, such as the Ubuntu installer CD. No need to install Ubuntu onto the hard drive, just boot the CD and use its file manager to copy the files out of your system partition onto a data partition (if the HD is partitioned) or onto a spare external HD on USB.