You can make yourself a bootable USB thumb drive with a Live OS that won't need a working hard drive to load.
Ubuntu Desktop: use the create a bootable USB stick option.
Tap on the F12 key after you power on to be able to choose to boot from the USB stick.
Choose the Try Ubuntu option and not the install option.
It's not 'Windows' but it will let you browse through your hard drive folders, etc, if your hard disk is still working.