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My brother's computer won't startup - I have tried using a few different commands in the windows recovery console and nothing has helped so far. I was wondering if there was any way I could salvage some of his photos from the hard drive, because we've pretty much decided that the hard drive is very screwed up and it'd be easiest to just salvage some files and install windows fresh. Thanks.

p.s. i have external hard drives and usb sticks to use for storing the files.

The easiest way is to temporarily move the drive to another PC... as a "slave"-- boot the other computer... and use Windows Explorer to access the files. Hope this helps.

Damn I was afraid of that...thanks. I'll probably end up doing that, depending on how much he wants those pictures.

or if you have a linux live cd, such as ubuntu, you can start up the computer from that and then copy those files to the usb stick.

That's why every PC "guru" recommends a regular backup of all your personal files.
Software can be replaced/reinstalled... hardware can be replaced.
Moments of your life cannot.
If a harddrive suffers catastrophic failure-- you would be looking at a Data-Recovery Service ...which can be very expensive indeed...
If the drive won't spin-up, they have to disassemble it, remove the platters ... and use lab-level equipment to save the data.
Total failure does happen-- most just live with it-- because the cost is prohibitive

If I can put my two cents worth in here...

Is it your hard drive that is messed up or Windows that is messed up?

If it is your hard drive, then in the long run reinstalling Windows isn't your best fix. For a bad hard drive, replacement is the only real fix. (Been there, done that.)

If it is Windows that is messed up, then what caused the mess up? Maybe we can fix the mess up.

We do magic.

I think backup before cure.
Take the “bad” hard drive- attach it to the IDE cable from the CD/DVD drive on the “good” computer (& power obviously).
Reboot
Your PC will recognise the drive unless it’s totally stuffed. Copy files as appropriate.
With a long enough IDE cable you won’t even have to dismount the “bad” hard drive.
(I realise that the new DVDs are SATA but if that’s the case – let us know)