Steve Smith
December 11th 03, 09:41 PM
(I am sending this from my wife's computer, BTW. My
computer is inaccesible, as detailed below).
I have XP on an eMachine computer.
Tonight I defragged my files. Then I used the Windows
option to "clean" drive C. I believe that the "compress
disk" option was also checked.
At some point my open applications began performing
erratically. Then I noticed that about half of the
applications seemed to be missing or at least could not be
found.
I checked the properties for drive C. Previously, it
showed about 18 Gigs of space in use, and about 2 Gigs
free. Now it showed approximately 10 Gigs in use and 10
Gigs free.
I figured maybe this had something to do with my having
compressed the drive. Now though, I wonder if I actually
erased half of my files, including the system boot files.
I shut down the computer, then turned it back on. I got
the eMachines logo, then the message, "NTLDR missing,"
and the advice to type ctrl-alt-del to restart. But
typing ctrl-alt-del just gets me to the same message.
Somehow (maybe by hitting keys when the eMachines logo was
still showing), I was able at one point to get to an A:
prompt. From there I tried typing C: to see if it would
take me to my hard drive. But it just gave me a message
indicating that drive C: did not exist.
I did not receive any XP disks, per se, with this
computer. No emergency boot disks or anything. What I
got was a set of eMachines "recovery" disks. These will
restore all of the software that was originally on the
machine, including the XP operating system, but at the
cost of completely overwriting everything that is on the
drive now (assuming anything is still there!). I wish to
avoid that if at all possible.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Steve Smith
computer is inaccesible, as detailed below).
I have XP on an eMachine computer.
Tonight I defragged my files. Then I used the Windows
option to "clean" drive C. I believe that the "compress
disk" option was also checked.
At some point my open applications began performing
erratically. Then I noticed that about half of the
applications seemed to be missing or at least could not be
found.
I checked the properties for drive C. Previously, it
showed about 18 Gigs of space in use, and about 2 Gigs
free. Now it showed approximately 10 Gigs in use and 10
Gigs free.
I figured maybe this had something to do with my having
compressed the drive. Now though, I wonder if I actually
erased half of my files, including the system boot files.
I shut down the computer, then turned it back on. I got
the eMachines logo, then the message, "NTLDR missing,"
and the advice to type ctrl-alt-del to restart. But
typing ctrl-alt-del just gets me to the same message.
Somehow (maybe by hitting keys when the eMachines logo was
still showing), I was able at one point to get to an A:
prompt. From there I tried typing C: to see if it would
take me to my hard drive. But it just gave me a message
indicating that drive C: did not exist.
I did not receive any XP disks, per se, with this
computer. No emergency boot disks or anything. What I
got was a set of eMachines "recovery" disks. These will
restore all of the software that was originally on the
machine, including the XP operating system, but at the
cost of completely overwriting everything that is on the
drive now (assuming anything is still there!). I wish to
avoid that if at all possible.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Steve Smith