I was working on a PC which has two hard disks - a 20G and 40G.

They both have Windows XP installed in each. but the running system was the 20G.

The problem is that when I clicked on a windows media file a blue screen is appeared like a an error message. I didn't have time to read it before the system shut down.

After a few seconds the second HDD (40G) started booting. During this period I heard a voice as though someone is running a bad CD in CD drive - it appears that this is in first HDD (20G).

When I open My Computer the First HDD doesn't appear.

I restarted but always nothing.

So what is supposed to be the problem? And how do I solve it because I have important data in the damaged one.

Thanks for helping me.

Hamoud Addoud, , Mauritania

Why not change the boot order so the good disk boots from the start. You then may be able to copy the data you need from the 20G disk.

There are lots of ways to approach a problem such as this and what you do depends on your circumstances.

Here are just some of the factors to consider:

• Why not buy a new, big hard disk (they're very inexpensive now) and make it the prime disk and load XP on it from scratch. Then you can recover the data from those old disks. There are migration tools available too.
• Are you sure that there isn't some sort of Malware infection? Perhaps you should check that first. You can get or make a bootable CD for this purpose.
• Try a bootable CD which contains a hard disk tester / repairer. Then use just one hard disk at a time. (Disconnect the second)

And I'm sure some readers will have other ideas.

PS: I haven't the faintest idea what the "voice" is. Perhaps it's a poltergeist?

Paul Zucker