[aallegri]

My iBook kept freezing on startup (grey screen but no icon), so I started up with the System 9 CD

I went to Mac Help and followed the instructions. (Basically to run Disk First Aid and do something with the driver -- I followed all instructions.)

When I ran Disk First Aid, after about a minute, I got a message in the little popup box that said "cannot read files" and Disk First Aid stopped running. I tried 3 or 4 times, as that's what Mac Help said, but no luck.

Then I tried my AppleCare CD and rebooted the computer from that.

It brought up TechTools Deluxe...and I ran that. It took a couple of hours...here's what I got:

RAM - Passed (ok)
Chips - Passed (ok)
Drive - PROBLEM (with a skull and crossbones) -- volume structure was the problem, and the message said that it could not repair the files (or I chose not to repair the files)

The instructions on screen while I was running Tech Tools Deluxe said to go to the "file recovery panel" to recover the files. But I could not find the file recovery panel ... I checked all the pull-down menus, both within Tech Tools Deluxe and the toolbar, and could not get anywhere. I thought it might be in the Control Panel of my iBook, so I tried that too -- it only gave me two options -- network, and startup disk. (So if "file recovery panel" should be in my control panel it's no longer there.)

I've got the System 9 and System 10 disks, and the disks that would let me reinstall all software. But I know that if I do that, I'll lose the contents of my entire hard drive, right?

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Adriana