[moe jr]

I'm very sorry I didn't get back to you. I've got some major problems with my car and haven't had time to go use my friends computer. I'll get back as soon as I can. Thank you.

[Advertisements]

No worries, reply when you can and good luck with the car trouble.

[phillpower2]

No worries, reply when you can and good luck with the car trouble.

[moe jr]

Hello old friend,

Sorry I abandoned this thread but it's been quite a strange time the last couple of months. I got a new computer and have been getting familiar with it and forgot about my old one and it's problems. I would still like to try and save it and continue with where we left off. Is that possible?

Thanks again,
Moe

[phillpower2]

No worries - can you give me a couple of hrs UK time

[moe jr]

sure! great! I'll check back in a couple of hours. Thanks!

[phillpower2]

Hello Moe

Just need to establish where you are up to at present, have you secured the data on the HDD and if at all possible can you borrow a full Xp disk that is the same as on your system such as Xp home or Pro etc.

[moe jr]

Well I haven't secured my data yet. How do I download puppy linux with my computer being stuck in 'set up'?

[phillpower2]

Well I haven't secured my data yet. How do I download puppy linux with my computer being stuck in 'set up'?

When I suggested in post #5 that you use Puppy Linux to secure your data http://www.geekstogo...over-your-data/ you were at the time I recall using a friends computer to post here but as you now have a new computer you can burn to disk or download to thumb-drive Puppy Linux.
Puppy Linux does not use your HDD in any way, it will however allow you to access and copy data from the HDD unless of course the HDD has completely failed or the data is corrupt and cannot/should not be copied.

Using a suitable capacity USB thumb-drive http://puppylinux.com/flash-puppy.htm

[moe jr]

ok i'll try it right now and get back to you. Thanks

[phillpower2]

Good luck

[moe jr]

I hope I'm doing this right. it looks like this may take 30 minutes or more.

[phillpower2]

Some systems take longer as it depends on the speed of the burner etc.

[moe jr]

Ok, here's where I am. I downloaded the latest version of puppy and burned it to a cd. I had to manually open my cd door in my old pc but I inserted the disc, started up and booted from the cd. Here's where the tutorial get's a little confusing. Puppy's desktop comes up and shows 4 drives in the lower left corner. Floppy disc, drive sda1, drive sda2 and the cd. It says sda1 is my old drive so I mounted that and opened it. It shows about 50 icons and I don't know what they represent. I don't know how to get from here to 'documents and settings' nor do I know how to drag the files I need back to the cd and transfer them there. Can I use the cd or do I need an external flash drive?

Thanks

[phillpower2]

I personally would use a USB thumbdrive (for convenience)

3b. Transfer Files.
◦At the bottom left of your desktop a list of all hard drives/partitions, USB Drives, and Optical Drives are listed with a familiar looking hard drive icon.

◦Open your old hard drive i.e. sda1

◦Next, open your USB Flash Drive or External Drive. i.e. sdc or sdb1

◦If you open the wrong drive, simply X out at the top right corner of the window that opens. (Just like in Windows)

◦From your old hard drive, drag and drop whatever files/folders you wish to transfer to your USB Drive's Window.

For The Novice: The common path to your pictures, music, video, and documents folders is: Documents and Settings >> All Users (or each idividual name of each user. CHECK All Names!) >> Documents >> You will now see My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos.

Remember to only click once! No double clicking! Once you drag and drop your first folder, you will notice a small menu will appear giving you the option to move or copy. Choose COPY each time you drag and drop.

YOU ARE DONE!!! Simply click Menu >> Mouse Over Shutdown >> Reboot/Turn Off Computer. Be sure to plug your USB Drive into another working windows machine to verify all data is there and transferred without corruption. Congratulations!

[moe jr]

ok I'll have to go get a thumb drive(unless I can use the cd) but how do I find 'documents and settings'? I don't see any icon named that.