I already read the sticky (http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8356).

About last Friday night, the computer would not boot-- it would take me to Automated System Recovery with the many Safe Mode options etc. Every option would display variety of

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\System32\ ...

messages. I even got the Blue Screen when I chose certain options (it flashed quickly before rebooting again so I could not read the blue screen message). I put in the WinXP Pro CD and tried to recover by using CHKDSK /r. This worked. I got back into Windows and everything was fine for the time being.

Cut to now: Again, Windows displayed the same problems. It wouldn't boot and took me to the same ASR screen. Again, I popped the CD in, and used CHKDSK /r. BUT, this time a while through the procedure, Windows reports that there is irrepairable damage to some volumes!

I checked the sticky thread earlier and went back to the System Repair Setup of WinXP. Okay, here it should detect my previous install of WinXP and ask me to repair it. But, no installations were found and it asked me to choose one of my partitions to install it. I guess this means my data is way too corrupted.

I only have one drive, a Western Digital Caviar 120GB, and one stick of RAM: a Crucial 512MB SDRAM.

Guys, I'm begging for help. I don't know what to do. I know, I know; after the first incident, I should have backed up all my stuff. But I really have data on the drive that is irreplacable and invaluable. I don't know what to do anymore and I need your help!

I'll be grateful for any help I can receive, even if it's information on how to physically recover my (lost?) data.

Thanks in advance, Daniel

sounds like possibly bad sectors, you can find drive diagnostics here http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7602
Might give HDD Regenerator a shot, it can actually repair bad sectors without hosing your partitions. I'd rwecommend making sure the cables are all properly connected to the drive first though, as a bad connection can sometimes cause the drive to appear to have problems it doesn't have. You might also wait for other replies, someone else might know of something I've forgotten, or something I haven't run into that might help.

Thanks for the reply.

I tried HDD Regenerator but it didn't seem to help in my case. It reported no bad sectors were actually found.

I also tried the demo of Uneraser (http://www.uneraser.com/) to scan through my files. I was able to see a partial directory listing of some of my files but it froze while scanning through them.

I am wondering if data recovery services are now my only option? They are expensive, but necessary if it's the only means to get back my data. Can anyone else give me suggestions? Is my problem bad enough to go there-- or can I still repair?

Just a thought, have you tried dropping your hard drive into another machine with XP, as a slave disc, and seeing if it will show your files. If it is just your windows that is scrambled another system should still be able to see the data on your disc. If your partition is scrambled then thats another problem.
I have tried this many times and it usually works.

That would have been an option, but it is not only my Windows that is scrambled. For example, my two drive partitions were labeled C: and F:. While trying to remedy my problem, I tried to access the F partition, but found out it was now D: .

I can't list any directories, access any files, etc. I did a chkdsk /r -- nothing. The repair console doesn't even recognize my Windows installation; nothing is there. I explained it in more detail in my first post.

Thanks though. Anyone else?

Sorry if im going over old ground, but have you tried fdisk /mbr.

Seem like you screw your partition, have you tried using boot cd? like hiren boot cd, this cd contain a lot of useful tool for diagnose and repairing any error in your pc.
Try it, hope helps.

I'll try your suggestions, but I'm really limited on resources right now now that my main machine is down. Thanks.

My primary question right now is: are my problems enough to warrant a data recovery service which would run a minimum $600+ bill? In other words, do I have any other choice?

I don't know how serious my problem is; if it is the physical drive or just some partition tables screwed up. I cannot list my directories, etc.

Is FDISK /mbr safe in my case? I know it would restore the default boot sectors, but for my situation I don't know if it's the best idea given that I need my files.

i've had this same error before, the quit blue screen then reboot. I havn't found any way to fix it..at all. That is why i simply quit using windows xp. However if you should find out the problem perhaps you can email me and let me know what it is ?
Thanx !

itsjustin@hotmail.com