i recently backed up some important files onto cd r and formated my hd and installed win xp i have tried to copy the files back on to the hd and i keep getting an error saying cannot read from the specified device. Can anyone help me to read from this disk and copy the files over

Maybe you copied the files over to CD in UDF format. ie. used InCD or DirectCD software or similar.

If this is the case, you may need to download a UDF reader. I know you can go to www.download.com and search for UDF. The first one in the list will be Adaptec UDF Reader.

Failing that, locate a util called 'BadCopy'. This will attempt to read data from defective discs.

Cheers, and goodluck

Pretty sure that WinXP has built in UDF reading support though.