Lost Files After Reloading XP

[NormH]

A friend called and said that he was unable to boot his
XP computer. He reloaded the operating system and now
all of his files are gone. Does the reload do a disk
format. Is it possible to do a restore. He can only get
dates back to when he couldn't boot. Thanks, Norm

 

[hustedj]

If you do a repair it will not delete your files, if you to a fresh install
that will wipe out everything. If you do a reinstall they are still there,
they are probably just under a different user name. Check under documents
and settings and see if their old user name is in there and also see if the
files are there.

 

[Alex Nichol]

A friend called and said that he was unable to boot his
XP computer. He reloaded the operating system and now
all of his files are gone. Does the reload do a disk
format. Is it possible to do a restore.

It depends on how he did it. But if it is a case where the system came
pre-installed with the machine, then it is very likely that running the
recovery CD (or other recovery means that came with it) formats the disk
and removes all files to put the machine back in ex-factory state. If
that happens then there is nothing to be done. Sorry