So my mom (900 miles away) called in a panic yesterday. She'd just come back from a 5 day vacation, and her computer, which had been turned off, gave the message "Due to a missing file, Windows can'is unable to boot." Whe gave it to a "computer guy" who said it was probably a power surge (there was a surge protector, but not for the phone line). He said he thought he had a 50/50 chance of retrieving the data.
Anyone have any expierence with this kind of error? I'd like to be able to tell her how screwed she is.
(PS - I've already convinced her to now get an external as soon as I get home in a few wks).