Ubuntu – Retrieving files from broken wubi installation

My wubi installation of Ubuntu 12.04 is stuck in an infinite login screen loop. I have tried following the advice on other posts but nothing has worked so now I'm trying to retrieve a few files from root.disk from Windows7.

Here is what I have tried:

I booted into ubuntu and when faced with the login screen ctrl+shift+F1 and logged in with that. Updated all my packages and tried to log in the usual way again. No Dice.

I logged in that way again and tried to copy some files over to /media/DATA (this is a general purpose windows-friendly storage partition). Permission Denied. sudo doesn't work and su wont accept my password.

I got into recovery mode root and opened up /media/DATA . ls tells me that it is empty (it is not). I made a new folder for my backups. This new folder shows up with ls. cp started the copy without complaint but then I ran out of disk space on DATA. I booted into Windows and the backups directory isn't where I left it and I have loads of space left. Back in recovery mode the backup folder is still visible but nothing else on DATA is… spooky.

My next approach was to find something that I could use to open up root.disk via windows. I have seen lots of recommendations for programs on this forum but they either dont work on windows7, only have corrupted versions available for download, or just wont open the .disks as is.

So my question is:

How can I make data stored in a wubi disk image available to Windows7?