A few weeks ago the unthinkable happened. I turned on my laptop (HP Pavillion zt1000 series) and Windows would not load. I think the error message was something along the lines of, "Windows (XP) has experienced a problem and will not start. Choose to start in safe mode or use the last known configuration...etc." I tried every option available and the computer kept returning to the same screen and counting down from 30 seconds before attempting to start with the highlighted option. I stopped backing up my files on a regular basis about 2 years ago when I decided I was wasting money saving my files to disk every couple of weeks (stupid, I know), and I didn't bother investing in a usb pen drive or the like because I had never experienced a problem threatening the files or programs saved on my hard drive. Desperate to recover my work (including years of photos I'd transferred from my digital camera for A-Level photography, not to mention the essays and notes in which I've invested countless precious hours, along with hundreds of downloaded music files), I took my laptop to the local computer shop and asked the owner if he would restore my operating system and files, making it explicitly clear that I wanted to save my work. When I picked up my laptop the next day I was relieved to hear that my files and windows (now XP professional because he'd used his own windows disk) were restored, only to find when I got home that he had merely saved a physics revision guide that I'd made 3 years earlier and didn't need anymore. I was charged £30 for this privilege and if I'd known I was going to lose all my files and programs I could have reinstalled windows myself for free! I shared my dissatisfaction with the shop owner who's only response was, "I never thought to look in 'my documents;' 'my pictures' and 'my music,' etc," where at least 90% of my files were stored (WHAT a damn IDIOT!!!). He fobbed me off with some shareware called deamon tools and winrar, assuring me that I could recover all my files to a virtual drive. All I've been able to locate are temporary internet files and other useless junk- not a single document or picture/ music file. I also bought "filesaver" software that proved just as ineffective. I suspect that when he reinstalled windows, the 'my documents' directory was overwritten. Now I've lost all faith in technology, I feel like hitting the bottle hard and stringing myself up by my laptops power-cord. PLEASE HELP!!! (In the past 2 months, my grandparents nearly died in an arson attack, I had a widescreen television, PC and printer stolen from my flat (uninsured), my car was smashed in and relieved of a £300 stereo by vandalous thieves and now this! Please, I cannot stress how desperately I need this problem to resolve itself. Ken (RIP 1985-2005?)
Originally Posted by ken-widnes 
