Running WinXP on a HP Laptop - keeps rebooting when it gets to the Windows splash screen. I did Diagnostics and said HD Failure Imminent- Backup all files. I can't get into Windows to save anything. So I made a DOS boot disk, used NTFSDOS and accessed my HD and saved the important file I need to disk. It's in Excel. However, when I attempt to load that Excel file in my other laptop, it comes out all gibberish. Something to do with FAT/NTFS I think. How can I recover my very important Excel file? Thanks for your help

"Something to do with FAT/NTFS I think." Nope - a file is a file. Possibly the original or the copy is corrupt I'm not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn't need an interpreter

Yep, a file stored on an FAT partition is exactly the same as if the file was stored on an NTFS partition. The files system doesn't change the contents of the file. It's possible that the hard disk failure was more imminent than you thought it was. Shows the benefits of regular backups. Stuart

thanks - i guess u guys were right. I searched through the drive and found some items that weren't corrupted. Figures it's the actual one I need that doesn't work.

I believe it is called Murphy's Law! Happens all the time! I once recovered 430MB of data from a crashed HDD and the 43K file I needed appeared to be the only one corrupted! Best Of luck. That is the biggest fool thing we have ever done. The Atomic bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives. - Admiral William Leahy