Windows XP User Profile is corrupted, now files are missing

Question

I booted my computer and it gave me an error saying my user profile was corrupted.

Once the computer booted all of my settings had been reset, all of them gone. The files were still there so I started to restore my desktop and then I discovered that I was using a temp profile so I rebooted and it restored my profile like it was. Seems fine now with a few exceptions.

The files that were stored onto the backup are gone, I had a few folders with information and documents and no I cannot find them. I checked the folder with the desktop files C:\Documents and Settings\Lynda\Desktop and there are no files in the folder, I checked the other folders in the Documents and Settings and again nothing.

Here are a few questions:

1. Is there a place these files (desktop files) are sitting and can I restore them?
2. Where is the user profile file kept so I can manually backup the file in case this happens in the future.
3. Is there any specific reasons this happened and can prevent it in the future?

Answer 1

1) Is there a place these files (desktop files) are sitting and can I restore them?

I would do a search for the files. If you cannot find them then its safe to say they were deleted. If they were deleted that would explain how your profile was corrupt.

2) Where is the user profile file kept so I can manually backup the file in case this happens in the future.

Just backup the files on your desktop, your profile, is Documents and Settings/username/ folder.

3) Is there any specific reasons this happened and can prevent it in the future?

Backup your files daily.