warminstalls on XP home

What do you mean by chances for files lost?

is it...

1. would files be recovered by doing a warm re-install? or
2. could files be lost by doing a warm re-install?


No.1 If its data files that are lost then a warm install will most likely not recover the missing files, all it will do is to re-install the OS to its default state and leaves your existing data alone.

You would need to use a data recovery application like PC Inspector File Recovery http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2463.html to see if you can recover any lost/deleted files.


No2. Well there is a risk in data loss when doing anything on your PC, what you need to do is constantly backup all data/information that is important to you, wether that be to CDRW, 2nd HD or DVDRW.

so if you are going to re-install XP then I would backup all important data before doing it, just to be on the safe side.