win98 wont boot and I need my files

I have a win98 pc that wont boot, I cant get in. An error comes up and I also get a message to reinstall 98. how do I get my documents. I have an extra hard drive, win 98 and win xp os’s on hand. Can I add the second hard drive, load an os, then copy my files from hard drive 1 to hard drive 2(new). What is the best way to do this.. I tried to reinstall win98 on top of the old version and when it reboots after copying files the errors come back up and halts installation.