@Broni, Archaen... I solicit your input/experience as well..
@prrivera07
I don't think you're doing anything wrong. Typically, the Knoppix or Ubuntu boot process is pretty straightforward. But as Knoppix/Ubuntu isn't working for you and since even chkdsk is failing on your hard drive, i think the next best step is capturing an image of your hard drive (to preserve whatever is still there) before attempting any data recovery tools
My own recommendation is invest $50 bucks in
Acronis True Image. You can use it now to create a backup image of your bad HD but also use it in the future to backup all your computers.
You'll need an Acronis Rescue CD to boot up your problem computer. You can either
> But retail box Acronis True Image and use the CD in the box or
> Get Acronis online. Download and run it on your good computer. Click on the Acronis menu to
Build a Rescue CD.
When you run Acronis the Acronis backup I'd select backup the entire disk (i.e. this will image all the partitions on the disk) and (VERY IMPORTANT) be sure to check the
sector by sector backup option for the backup.