When we got our first computer my sister was trying to format a floppy disk. She got A: and C: mixed up. That was not a good day in the Cole household (but at least I didn't do it).

>Thanks. The embarrassing part is that after the C: drive got whacked, I went to reformat it and didn't notice it was formatting the external backup drive instead. Next is a call to the company mentioned by Al....
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>>I did'nt realize they were formatted - I must have missed that info. In that case I would have to agree with Al and get a firm to recover the data from them for you. I would say the chances are pretty good that you will recover most of the data because I don't think it will have been a comlpete low level format but rather a destruction of the file allocation table.
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>>There are tools you can use to DIY but I would'nt take the chance if the data is really important to you (and if you are not familiar enough with the tools).
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>>Good luck Mike.
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>>>The problem is the C: drive and the backup drive both got formatted. Will Knoppix be able to recover data from either of them?
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>>>>Mike, get/create a KNOPPIX boot DVD/CD from http://www.knoppix.org. This will allow you to boot your machines into a Linux variant. From the Knoppix GUI you will have access to your WinXP drives and be able to copy whatever you need off to a USB drive or other media.
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>>>>>This is worse than I thought. All four PCs are hosed. This from the Mac, the only computer that will connect to the internet. The PCs are all reporting viruses. Worse, my backup drive got dusted. All my work, all my finances, everything gone. You may not see me for a while.