My favorite rescue system is
System Rescue CD. I've never used ntfs-3g (which enables read/write access to MS Windows NTFS partitions) but it has it.
I've also used
RIPLinux, the (R)ecovery (I)s (P)ossible Linux rescue system. It's much smaller, and doesn't have a fancy web site, but it also has ntfs-3g.
And there is also
Finnix, which I have not used, but it's similar and it looks very good.
I don't know about actually installing any of them on the hard drive, though there is some information about installing them on a flash thumb drive.
I think many would recommend
Puppy Linux in your situation. It's very popular and it has information about how to install it on a hard drive on the web site. I've never used it.
If you have the room, install the full-fledged Linux of your choice. I see you are here in the forum for
Mandriva, which is an excellent choice. And of course, there is the ever popular, growing by leaps and bounds
Ubuntu. Just pick one and go for it.