CORRUPT WINDOWS XP

Corrupt Windows XP

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Upon booting my computer one morning after what seemed to be a normal shutdown the night before, I received the "NTLDR is Missing" error message. I tried to make repairs using the Recovery Console, but when I enter the Recovery Console by booting with the XP cd it only brings up a C:\> prompt; it could not identify any os on the hard drive. The hard drive tests okay, but I can only read about 15mb of 80G total. I tried to install another XP onto the drive, but the XP cd claims that there is not enough space on the hard drive. This is very strange as there should be about 35% free space of the 80G drive. Apparently a lot of stuff has been thrown onto the drive between shut down and start up the next morning.

I spent about 2-1/2 hours on the phone with MS Support with no success; they suggested that I take the drive to a tech shop and let them handle it. I'd prefer to try to fix it myself if possible.

I have a lot of files that I cannot afford to lose, work files, personal files, paid downloaded applications, etc. Best case scenario would be to regain use of the drive. Next best case would be to at least access my files and move them to an operable disk.