Gray Screen on Start Up

[kb22stang]

Ok, I'm evidently not that bright and I created this problem when I was trying to share files on my network. I attempted to share the entire hard drive on my macbook pro snow leopard 10.6.3 and now I get the gray screen.

I have tried the Disk Utility option of repairing the disk and the disc permissions, but nothing changed in regards to the gray screen. If I go to restore and click "image" I can navigate the hard drive and see all my files (not sure if that matters but I figured I would mention it).

Here's the main problem: I have photos and video of my children that aren't backed up that I simply can't lose.

Does anyone know what I can do? Thanks

 

[kb22stang]

Is there any way to connect the hard drive to another computer and pull the files off without fixing the boot problem? Then I can delete the hard drive and reinstall OS

 

[bluespaceoddity]

Is there any way to connect the hard drive to another computer and pull the files off without fixing the boot problem? Then I can delete the hard drive and reinstall OS

Depending on the state of your internal disk there may be many options to accomplish that.

Have you tried Safe Boot?
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570

If that works you may be able to connect an external (Firewire) drive and transfer the files to that.

Have you attempted booting from Mac OS X (Or Recovery Partition) on an External Disk? If that works you may be able to transfer the files from the MBP to the external.
(Works with an Install DVD as well but you have to use the Terminal to copy the files to a USB or Firewire drive)

With a Firewire cable and another Mac you can also attempt Target Disk Mode for transferring the files directly to the other Mac.

Another -but perhaps a bit more drastic- option is to open the MBP and put its internal disk into an External enclosure and connect that to another computer.