Accessing broken pc from Air

Wirelessly posted

My work Toughbook, which really isn't that tough, has a broken screen after a frustrating half hour failing to send an email with a 382kb attachment (which task my iPhone managed in less than 2 seconds).

I'll get a replacement pretty soon, but there are some files I need on the hard drive. The drive is encrypted, so putting it in an external enclosure is no good. The screen is broken, and I don't have a monitor. I only have a user account, so I can't install any software. Is there a way to use my Air as a display?

That link says you need two macs with FireWire, which the Toughbook has, but the Air hasn't. Looks like I'll have to try to find a display from somewhere. I hoped there might be another way, but that's security for you.

The really annoying thing is how much my work spends on fragile Toughbooks because they're supposed to be tough, when they could get ten disposable net books, or 3 Airs for the same price, all of which would be vastly superior than anything running Vista, and almost as tough.

Wirelessly posted

I found a VGA cable, so tonight I'll take it home and connect it to my tv. To prevent this happening in future (and it will - I've gone through three "tough"books in six months), I've decided to buy a miniature USB stick to leave semi permanently connected, and store all my files on it. Which is best, the LaCie moskeyto or the verbatim store n go? Are there any others similarly small?

All the other solutions are blocked in one way or another. No software can be installed, and plenty of websites are blocked (including iCloud and Dropbox) so no online backup (not even the one my company sells) or remote access.