a few more suggestions -regarding ionodes, windows displays icons based on the filename, so if you create a blank file (lets say abc.txt) and rename it, say abc.doc, it immediately switches from text-icon to MSword-icon. my guess is that there is something crap going on with the ionodes and/or file allocation tables. -regarding linux distributions, there are tons of "live linux" distros, which means the operating system can be run live from the CDs and it doesnot touch the hard-drive. my fav used to be PCOSLinux (go to distrowatch.com) but i am skeptical about whether it supports the NTFS native to WinXP. -from what Nirman describes, i believe, he has a lot of important files in the E: and he requires to recover them. therefore, i guess, it would be suicidal to use any software that tend to "write" anything on that partition. you should be using only those wares that ony try to "read" from the partition. -as i suggested earlier, Partition Magic is a viable option. *****Also, there are lots of free "deleted file recovery software", which are used to recover files that were permanently deleted from the hard drive (such as pressing "shift key" while deleting or deleting from the recycle bin). do a google and you will find dozens of them. however, you should note that you should install those software in a different partition than that you intend to recover files from and you should care that you assign a different partition to save the recovered files, for example, you can install that program in C:, and tell it to recover in the files from E: to a folder say C:\recoverE\. As long as you take note of this, you can try these software safely, in the sense that they wont worsen your condition. They will only try to READ and not write in your partition. Also, Partition Magic or "Live" linux are also safe, but if you go for installing linux or anything with no prior expertise, a slight misunderstanding could format the partition as a whole. Good luck again.