The best Linux system repair disk graduates to 1.0 (Linux-Watch)

This is an outstanding rescue CD - it includes many useful recovery tools, can read/write NTFS
by default using NTFS-3G, is quick to burn and boot, and has the very useful GNU ddrescue
(gddrescue on Debian/Ubuntu) which efficiently seeks around bad sectors in a disk to help you
recover the maximum possible data even if there were no backups.

You can also change Windows passwords from Linux, and as with other Linux distros you can if
necessary use the Windows System Restore points (periodic backup copies of the registry) to
recover a non-booting system.