To recover deleted files on Windows XP, you must begin by making the determination of whether your computer’s internal hard drive has suffered physical damage or merely lost a few files resulting in a logic crash. If the hard drive has actually suffered physical damage you will not be able to use software for its recovery. That hard drive will need to be sent to a data recovery service laboratory. Fortunately physical damage to a hard drive only occurs in 5% of all circumstances. So you are probably dealing with a simple file access loss that denies you the ability to open your hard drive and copy from it your stored files.
Most file recovery software will enable you to open your crashed hard drive. This same data recovery software will also allow you to scan through any work for all devices that are connected to your PC such as a compact flash drive or memory card from your camera. Remember not to simply reload Windows when you are denied access to your hard drive or your desktop or laptop computer will not start. Should you accidentally do so, you will still be able to recover lost files after you reinstall Windows XP. The process is a little more difficult, but as long as you use a higher quality data recovery program such as those offered by Remo Software, you will be able to find and recover your files.