so long as the hard drive isn't actually damaged (viruses, boot sector mess up, etc, are fine) then yes. you don't need an external harddrive, just a drive separate from the one that's going to be accessed. if you do use linux, i'd suggest Ubuntu Live CD to access the drive, it's a bit faster than Kubuntu on Live CD, and the drive access is easier (NTFS and Kubuntu aren't pals)