From my 98seboot disk Scandisk said it coulkdn't read from the last cluster on my D: drive! It fixed a bunch of things! I'm not sure what! But I don't remember deleting anything!

And now all My Documents and Downloads and a few other things are gone! My documents was totlally emptied, Downloads is not there any more at all, and the folder with my File And Setting Transfer Wizzard Files I backedup are gone from within the folder! It also made some weird DIR0001 upto 5 directories with some wierd files in side!

And I know Only 1.72GB is used not 18.7GB! So where is the rest and how do I recover my files! I thought Norton had a a feature but I can't find it!

ivnj

Norton does make a Utility software (as do McAfee, OnTrack, and a number of other manufacturers) that will recover lost data/files - it's called Norton "System Works". NAV & NIS do not contain the utilities features.

If you don't have a Utility program, have you tried doing a System Restore? It's possible you may be able to recover your lost data that way if you don't have a Utilities progtam installed.

Here's the information for WinXP:HOW TO: Start Your Computer by Using the Last Known Good Configuration Feature in Windows XP.

I back my system up on a regular basis, but keep it on removable media - floppies would be unwieldy - like zip drive disks. I have a zip disk with all of My Documents on it; I update it whenever I make changes in it that way I can recover most of my files and documents. The key is to keep your back-up separate from your system and update them on a regular basis.

Hopefully this will help.

...did you know, that a surge protector only protects from power "surges" - it doesn't protect from power "spikes".

The power "spikes" are what cause damage to your hard drive, resulting in permanent "bad clusters".

You may have had a power "spike" (they aren't noticeable like "surges" are) which caused permanent damage to your drive - it may even have been where your Documents were located. Hopefully, this is not the case & a System Restore will retrieve your files.

I highly recommend a back-up power supply with an AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) - I paid about $70 for mine at Best Buy. It will even allow you to continue working on your PC for about 15 minutes after you've lost power.

Norton System Works 2002 and Windows XP!

ivnj

Unfortunately, I use a different Utility program so I can't walk you through Norton's restoration steps. My Utility program has File Undeleter and Undo features which basically allow me to reverse whatever I just did that caused problems.

Not knowing exactly how Norton's program works, won't allow me help you through it.

However...

To do a system restore in WinXP (I have Pro, so my steps may be slightly different than yours if you have the Home edition):

Click on Start > Run
Type msconfig in the Open window
Click OK
On the General tab, at the bottom right, there's are 2 buttons; Click on Launch System Restore
At the next screen you are given 2 options:
Restore my computer to an earlier time
Create a restore point
Select the first option then click Next
On the next screen you'll see a calendar and, to its right, a list of actions you took that day. Click on the last action (the one that made the adverse changes) you want to undo.
Click on Next
Follow the instructions and it should restore your PC to the point it was at before you had the problem

There's a chance this won't work if there was damage to files needed to restore to this point - let's hope not. If you find you don't like the restoration, you can always reverse it.

I hope this helps; good luck!