protection id is what i use to check the images...
you can also use hex workshop to access the drive but its not as simple
..
hmm, some mini images should work, indeed i used some when developing some portions of protection id...
some can fail if you have other drivers installed, filter drivers for example and such, or in some (rare) cases, a different os...
are there any critical differences between your current pc and the dead one ? (excluding processor, ram, hdd space and so on?)..