Forgot Admin password on Mac Air

My wife can't remember her Mac Air password. We've tried everything. She is Admin.
1) Are there any ways to rescue or circumvent the password?
If not,
2) if not, to rebuild the Mac from scratch, what is the best procedure to save & restore all of my wife's needed files (documents, photos, movies, Preferences, etc.)?

Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu. Enter resetpassword at the prompt and press RETURN. Follow instructions in the dialog window that will appear.
Or see Reset a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Password and OS X Lion- Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.
Mac OS X 10.6 Help- If you forget your administrator password

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    Burroaker, welcome to the forum.
    When requesting help, you should always include the make/model of the computer and/or monitor. This information is necessary for us to review the specifications of them.  This will let us know the OS that is running.
    Signature:
    HP TouchPad - 1.2 GHz; 1 GB memory; 32 GB storage; WebOS/CyanogenMod 11(Kit Kat)
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    **Click the Thumbs Up+ to say 'Thanks' and the 'Accept as Solution' if I have solved your problem.**
    Intelligence is God given; Wisdom is the sum of our mistakes!
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    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1274
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