The title pretty much covers my problem -- except for one thing: My hard disk has crashed and its data has been declared unrecoverable. These four CDs are my only hope. Obviously, any help would be deeply appreciated . . . It does seem that a lot of the most important data is almost-just-not-quite available on the fifth and last disk. Many thanks.

Again, these four disks are the last four in a full five-disk Creator Classic backup.

So what happens when you try to recover files?

In addition to seeing if you can access anything with Windows Explorer, you could try a recovery programs, such as cdroller (www.cdroller.com) or ISOBuster (www.isobuster.com). Both have impressive testimonials on their websites and in the Roxio boards. Both have a "trial Version" that lets you see if they can recover anything before you have to pay.

However, if you used any kind of compression when you made the set, the odds are pretty bleak.

Lynn