I have a sata hd from which i need to remove the files as windows won't boot, and I want to rescue the files before attempting to repair windows. I have an ide hd on another pc. My question is, is it easier to put the ide hd as master in the sata pc or the sata as slave in the ide pc, and what different cables might I need? Also would there be a problem when accessing the files with the fact that one hd is formatted as Fat32 and the other as NTFS?

Since the one that boots is IDE you will need to put the SATA drive into that computer. XP will recognize the NTFS format and it wont be a problem. Just use the cable that is already on the drive. Both computers need to support SATA drives in order to do this.

Have just checked the motherboard for the ide pc and unfortunately it doesn't support sata, so is it possible to install the ide on the sata pc and change the bios to boot from the ide?

You can't do that unless you reinstall XP on the IDE in that PC. Your options are.. get another drive that you can install XP on that PC or do the repair making sure that you don't format the drive. Doing the repair should leave the files intact. Also have you tried booting the Sata in safe mode? If you can, just install the IDE drive as second drive, boot in safe mode from SATA drive then copy the files to the IDE. This should be a reminder for you to backup all important files often. Good luck

Belated update. Contrary to advice, I attached the IDE hard drive to the Sata motherboard, and without changing anything in the BIOS, the pc booted as hoped from the ide hd. The files from the sata hd were then successfully transferred to the ide hd. No reinstall of XP was required. A repair of windows was then made on the sata hd, without loss of files anyway. (The sata would not even boot in safe mode, so that was not an option.) Comments regarding regular backups are not helpful or welcome. Some of us have more important things in life to concern ourselves with than backing up every day or week, such as looking after a disabled child.