I have a Toshiba SP 6100. It just starts up but then loops around on
the "Welcome to Toshiba" screen and will not take you any further. The
problem is, I have all my data and files on it and do not want to use
the recovery CD's in case I might wipe out any of my data. Can you
help me please?

01. did u tried booting from a floppy ?
02.Did u try resetting the bios ?  you will loose your CMOS settings,
but your data will be safe.  again, you can pull out your hard drive,
connect to another system.  this way, you can make sure that you are
not loosing any data.  later you can do any kind of R7D with ur
laptop.

i belive, resetting the bios (cmos) will solve the issue.  all the best.

I own one of these, and they are horrible quality.  Search (using your
local site here) for "Toshiba 6100 CMOS motherboard" and other
problems.  Mine just had the internal fan fail so it is no longer
usable (overheats in 5 minutes).   I have just started to research
what my repair options are after warrenty.

Suggested reading:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/26393/

I have not contacted this lawyer, but looks like there is a class action forming?
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/laptop-complaints.htm

Hope this helps.