Okay here is a solution: - make a bootable cd on another computer. Be sure that it dosen't choose the installation drive itself. winnt.sif: [Data] AutoPartition=0 [Unattended] FileSystem=* Also add theese lines to winnt.sif [Unattended] TargetPath=\WINDOWS_2 Beware the windows installation path: "windows2" - Launch the cd on the laptop and do NOT erase the partition where windows allready is installed. - When finsihed you should be able to pick out your old documents on the drive. I have not tried it myself with XP. But I tried it with Windows 2000 some years ago, and saved some data. However only do this as an last option, there is no guaranty, that you won't loose your data Let me hear if you try it and how things are working out. B)