OSX Wont boot up on Macbook

[tnsxsear]

So my macbook wont boot up anymore. It was doing the 10.5.6 combo update when the computer just all of a sudden shut down. Now it wont even start up or even start in safe mode. It just shows a folder with the little circle through it. I was able to boot from the install CD to archive and install the operating system but I do not have enough space to do it. Is their a way to clear up some space so that I can do this. I have all my wedding pictures on here and do not want to reformat the drive. Any help is appreciated

 

[dbowlin17]

do you have an apple store nearby? how about also a external hard drive? you need both. what I reccommend is going there with an external hd, they can plug in their external drive, and boot up leopard for intel. after that, i think (anyone correct me if i am wrong) you should be able to access your hard drive, back it up on your external drive, eject yours, restart and reinstall leopard. I THINK that would work, but I am not sure. I know you could pull out your HD, buy an enclosure, hook it up to another computer, and hopefully transfer stuff. hope that has helped.