Folks - this was posted earlier...but I left an important part (I think) out... ---------------- I've been having problems with the XP side of a XP/Win98 Dual boot setup. XP is (was) on the 2nd partition of the Master Drive (as the logical drive E:) Anyway...that drive contained several directories, data, ....the XP OS just would not boot. Tried tons of stuff....finally booted with XP Bootdisk, Went to the recover console, and used FIXBOOT E: It gave a succesful "done"....however, now..all the data/directories have disappeared from Drive E. >>ALSO.....the partition WAS FAT32....FIXBOOT seems to have changed it to FAT12 (according to fdisk). I suspect that all the data is still there because that partition shows much less free space than its actually size. I think just the pointers from that boot sector have changed. While I can do without that data (I think)..it would be GREAT to have it back. Have not written anything to that drive (drive E:) But....Is there any method / utility to UNDO what was just done by a FIXBOOT? THANKS! - earlier, the suggestion was made to run FIXBOOT again...not sure. Any advice Greatly appreciated. THANKS!

Try Bootscan, type bootcfg/scan. This will let you look at your partitions and drives. Try bootcfg/list to list all the entries in your boot.ini.

Eddie, "bootcfg/scan" and "bootcfg/list" don't work. Typing "bootcfg /?" gives this result: BOOTCFG /parameter [arguments] Description: This command line tool can be used to configure, query, change or delete the boot entry settings in the BOOT.INI file. Parameter List: /Copy Makes a copy of an existing boot entry [operating systems] section for which you can add OS options to. /Delete Deletes an existing boot entry in the [operating systems] section of the BOOT.INI file. You must specify the entry# to delete. /Query Displays the current boot entries and their settings. /Raw Allows the user to specify any switch options to be added for a specified boot entry. /Timeout Allows the user to change the Timeout value. /Default Allows the user to change the Default boot entry. /EMS Allows the user to configure the /redirect switch for headless support for a boot entry. /Debug Allows the user to specify the port and baudrate for remote debugging for a specified boot entry. /Addsw Allows the user to add predefined switches for a specific boot entry. /Rmsw Allows the user to remove predefined switches for a specific boot entry. /Dbg1394 Allows the user to configure 1394 port debugging for a specified boot entry. /? Displays this help/usage. Examples: BOOTCFG /Copy /? BOOTCFG /Delete /? BOOTCFG /Query /? BOOTCFG /Raw /? BOOTCFG /Timeout /? BOOTCFG /EMS /? BOOTCFG /Debug /? BOOTCFG /Addsw /? BOOTCFG /Rmsw /? BOOTCFG /Dbg1394 /? BOOTCFG /Default /? BOOTCFG /?

As far is i know fixboot cannot be undone. running it again will not hurt the machine any more than it is. I have had this problem happen a few times at the schools where XP will just not boot which is what i'm assuming is your problem. run fixboot and fixmbr then run chkdsk /r and run it like 2 or three times to fix all the errors on the drive, restart and if this was your problem it should work.

Thanks for the replies. MMarx, to make sure I'm acurately describing my situation....my first run of FIXBOOT converted the drive from FAT32 to FAT12, and made all the data disappear. I'm fairly sure it is still "there" because the drive's reported partition size is much smaller and explorer shows an empty directory(but it still shows the correct physical size)...so there is a big chunk with something still on it. So...while the origional problem was that XP simply would not boot (but all data was visable) - now it "won't boot" because the files aren't "there." Are you saying that you have experienced this "disappearing data" condition after using FIXBOOT too....and that running fixboot, fixmbr, then run chkdsk /r a couple of times had made the data re-appear? (as well as fixing the orginal XP booting issue)? My next step was going to be to use PartitionMagic...or something similar...to re-convert the drive to FAT32 (someone else who experienced the same reported doing so made the data reappear). HOWEVER, if you have experienced the no-boot XP / fixboot attempt resulting in a FAT conversion and dissappearing data / then continuing with the fixmbr chkdsk correcting it....I'll try your process first. Thanks very much for your feedback.