If you formatted the drive, the files are essentially gone, unless you're willing to pay a few thousand dollars (US) at attempted recovery. If you didn't format the drive, they should still be there, though program associations may have been destroyed, the contents should still be the same.
I am in the midst of re installing XP, but aborted the install when I learned that my personal documents, music and photos would be erased. Is that true and if it is, is there any recourse, realizing that I am 1/2 way through the install. That is, is there a recovery possibility

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