Microsoft → [WIN7] Please help restore my little sister's computer!

You should have been able to go to the command prompt in startup repair and use XCOPY to copy files to external media. If you were able to do it using something else, it is almost impossible to conceive why you could not have done it in Startup Repair.

I see what you're saying.

That said, the typical user has to use multiple "cd ####" and "cd..." and "xcopy c:\...." to "e:\..." and "md ###" and this takes a lot of time. I'd also guess that the newer users have no idea of DOS commands. With the Linux it's only a matter of looking at the directory you need to copy and doing a 'copy' and 'paste'.

I see your point, but it really isn't that bad. I'm pretty sure they allow the /S switch which means one command copies an entire folder and it's sub-folders to a location. It will create the folders on the destination. Yes navigation is a bit tricky for someone only used to using GUIs and I could see how a GUI would be much easier for some people.