Need help as soon as possible...major problems

I've been working with XP for some time now and, until recently, have had very few problems. Today I ended up restarting my computer for one reason or another and it would begin to start up, but freeze just before the login screen. After several repitions of thise, I decided to reinstall XP Pro, as I had been having some other problems prior to this. During the installation, it stopped at around the 29 minute remainder mark (just after I entered my CD Key) and said "Setup is being restarted..." This continued for several tries until I chose to attempt an XP Home installation. I was unsure how to do this, as I wasn't positive deleting a partition wouldn't delete my entire HD. I also attempted a "Repair Installation" but encounted the problem of not being able to recall my administrator password (in all honesty, I really dont remember ever setting one in the first place). As of now I am at a complete loss. Reformatting is not an option, because there is to much necessary information on my computer to be able to delete everything (in addition, there is no complete backup of all my files). Any suggestions? Is there anyway to bypass the admin pass so I can just repair the installation, or is there possibly a default password set? If not, is there anyway I can take out my HD so it will open on another computer where I can save all my data before reformatting? Any immediate help would be greatly appreciated, due to the fact that without a computer, I am rendered dysfunctional. Thanks for all potential help. Thanks again!

Jeff

If your trying to do a repair install and it ask for a admin password, then
most likely your actually entering the recovery console. You don't want
that.

XP Repair install

Press Enter to start the Windows Setup. do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R".
Accept the License Agreement and Windows will search for existing Windows installations.
Select the XP installation you want to repair from the list and press R to start the repair. Setup will copy the necessary files to the hard drive and reboot. Do not press any key to boot from CD when the message appears. Setup will continue as if it were doing a clean install, but your applications and settings will remain intact.

This from HERE with alot more details; please read!

Just BTW if you never set an Admin password hitting enter should pass; although as mentioned above Repairing XP does not require a password.

I just wonder when you say you tried to re-install the 1st time was it a clean install you tried? This may have already formated your drive.

And yes you can remove your drive. Check your manual for details.