If booting to a LiveCD is not an easy option, do you have any virtualization software? You could create a virtual machine and connect the device to that isolated machine. I've done that in the past using VMWare Workstation. You could probably download an eval copy of VMWare Workstation, which allows sharing of USB devices.
I would be careful that you know the USB device is going to be connected to the VM and not the host. I've done this enough in the past that I was comfortable knowing that the device would be connected to the VM and not my host machine.
To be safer, make sure the VM OS does not have any sensitive information or connectivity to sensitive information (i.e. network connectivity or other sharing with the host).
Edit: I've actually done this too. Turns out the drive contained the person's entire work portfolio. I was able to track down her contact information from the content on the device. She was so relieved when I returned the device to her. It was a very attractive drive too. I asked her if she knew where I could get one, but she got it as a gift in Korea, so she didn't know where I could find one. It was very similar to the Pico USB flash on Thinkgeek, except that the pins weren't exposed.