Boris wrote:
[...]
By now I have three versions of Linux Live DVDs I've tried them all. But,
I still have not imaged the corrupt Mac HD. I'm don't trust myself enough
yet to be sure I won't completely corrupt the Mac HD, if it's not already
fully corrupt, let alone one of my own HDs.

Considering you have little to no Linux experience, it's (IMO) rather/
too risky to use Linux for this delicate and important data recovery
attempt.

If I were in your situation, I would first try a disk-cloning
operation on your Windows system, before considering to try unknown
Linux territory.

In case you did not see it, here's part of my earlier response to
Paul on this subject:

quote

Thinking of sector-by-sector copying, couldn't Macrium Reflect FREE's
disk-cloning function be used as an alternative?

The disk-cloning function has in Advanced Options:

"Perform a Forensic Sector Copy. This option will copy all sectors from
the source disk, whether they are is use or not."

Macrium Reflect FREE would both be easier - no Linux boot disk needed
- and safer - easier to see which is the real source/original disk and
which is the to-be-copied-to disk.

/quote

Of course any other (Windows-based) disk-cloning software - such as
Acronis - can be used instead of Macrium Reflect FREE.

Please let me know if you need more help with this [1], but note that
I'll be absent after Saturday.

[1] I've not used the Macrium Reflect FREE disk-cloning function and
don't have a HFS+ disk to experiment with, but I have experience with
Macrium Reflect FREE and disk imaging / disk cloning in general.