thank for the replys.

i have tried using the read command and the write command. it gives me errors in my program at the compiing stage. it says something like undefined symbol 'WREN" or undefined symbol 'pgd' or somehing theres about 6 in all.

i am using the 16f73 and i think that the data sheet for it says that there is non-volatile eeprom memoery onboard that i can use. but not 100% sure if my pic has this memory.

i will look into the shiftin commands. thanks

i am simply trying to store about 6, byte sized variables in all. the variables are to be saved at power down and loaded at power up.