URGENT! Need access to data in XP User Account on external hard drive

ALL HELP AND ADVICE MUCH APPRECIATED! THANK YOU!

I have had total technology breakdown recently and the laptop that held all my data died but the hard drive is ok. I now have a new laptop and the hard drive from the old laptop has been extracted and installed into a USB unit that enables me to access and use the hard drive. The hard drive works fine. However, I do not know how to get at my data! The previous system was Windows XP Professional and I know the User Account account name and password but I cannot get at the data! How can I do this? It’s VITAL and very very URGENT!

PLEASE HELP!!

Once again – ALL HELP AND ADVICE APPRECIATED!

Thank you VERY VERY much in advance