My laptop crashed whilst I was working and when I got it opened again not only had todays work been lost (which I had expected) but the whole chapter section I had been working on for a few days and had been saved successfully before has gone Is there anyway to get this back?
Have you looked in your backups directory? It’s possible that the work lost from the previous day is still available in a backup that can be restored. The default directory should be C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Local\Scrivener\Scrivener\Backups
thankyou - I will have a look. I thought it did a back up somewhere. I had a version I thought was the back up but it turned out to be just a very early version, saved in my book file.
Phew, i have found the work up until todays session. Most of the backups were just the book set ups, chapters/characters etc but all blank. Started to really panic but then found a version with the writing there. Many thanks for helping me out 
Not a problem. At least you only have one day’s worth of work to rewrite. And as I’ve been taught by multiple writers, sometimes completely rewriting something from memory makes the second result a better work. Hopefully that’s the case for you.
The SOS rule of “SAVE OFTEN STUPID” might be rude, but it’s also completely accurate. I lost an academic paper years ago and haven’t not had multiple backups since. It’s really nice that Scrivener has this built in.
Since Scrivener would back up only when you close the project, it is urgently advisable (as I have discovered) to use File>Back Up>Backup Now constantly.
Another associated must is to choose a cloud repository for your work like DropBox, One Drive or Google Drive. This practice saved me recently from a true disaster and I am glad I followed earlier advise by a veteran.
I’m glad you recovered. Losing work done will never fail to ruin your day (and your project)… 