... a doc file

Question

I am writing to you about a serious error during the operation of Windows XP.
It caused to lose my data information on hard disk drives.
More specifically, a whole partition from the secondary (slave) disk was
transferred to the primary.
As a result, it erased all the data existing, operating system and valuable
documents.
It happened suddenly. When I tried to start normally my PC, the operating
system didn't work.
I found out that a word file might cause it.
When I open it (I have saved it also in a CD media) there is nothing in it,
only some blank squares instead of greek letters. Also, when I tried to see
the properties of the file and change them, the system is booting at once.
I have very good anti-virus protection (Norton 2006) and installed critical
updates and SP2.

Any suggestions?

May I send you the file to Microsoft?

Potis wrote:

>
> .. a doc file
>
> Question
>
> I am writing to you about a serious error during the operation of
> Windows XP. It caused to lose my data information on hard disk drives.
> More specifically, a whole partition from the secondary (slave) disk
> was transferred to the primary.
> As a result, it erased all the data existing, operating system and
> valuable documents.
> It happened suddenly. When I tried to start normally my PC, the
> operating system didn't work.
> I found out that a word file might cause it.
> When I open it (I have saved it also in a CD media) there is nothing
> in it, only some blank squares instead of greek letters. Also, when I
> tried to see the properties of the file and change them, the system is
> booting at once. I have very good anti-virus protection (Norton 2006)
> and installed critical updates and SP2.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> May I send you the file to Microsoft?

I understand that you are upset, but this isn't Microsoft you're talking
to. This is a public newsgroup hosted on Microsoft servers providing
peer-to-peer tech support for Microsoft products. While some MS
employees do occasionally post in these newsgroups, the majority of
regular helpers are just volunteers who do not work for the company.

It does rather sound like you had a virus, but there really is no way to
tell from your post. Most viruses do not move partitions. Users do
sometimes by mistake. Or hardware fails and some pretty strange stuff
can happen.

It does sound like your Word document was corrupted. You may want to
post in a newsgroup for MS Word to see if there is any way to recover
it easily. Here is a list of all the MS newsgroups:
http://aumha.org/nntp.htm

I would do nothing further on that computer. If you want to just recover
the data, contact a professional data recovery firm. I recommend
DriveSavers - http://www.drivesavers.com. Their services are not
inexpensive, but only you can determine the worth of your data.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"