Knoppix Re: need some MVP help for visiting relative's XP laptop

On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:02:25 -0500, "Nepatsfan"
<nepatsfan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Hank" <hgreintges@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2tq5n3ld54b5f60knde93h6mjhrhqli6pa@xxxxxxxxxx
My daughter is visiting and has a problem with her HP laptop that has
me stumped (not hard unfortunately). She has Windows XP Home Edition.


Since I'm not an MVP, I can't answer your question.
Sorry I did not mean to imply ONLY an MVP could help but
though one of them would know an answer

If I were an MVP, I would tell you that backing up her irreplaceable files
should be your first priority. There are a number of ways to do this.

The easiest route is to remove the laptop's hard drive, put it in an external
USB hard drive enclosure designed to handle a laptop's hard drive, and connect
it to your computer. You may need to take ownership of some files in order to
copy them to your computer, but that's easily accomplished.
None of us are that mechanically inclined. I would take a hard
drive out of a desktop but would be a little reluctant to tackle a
laptop.

Another approach is to boot the laptop from a Linux live CD. If the laptop has a
CD burner, the files can be backed up on a CD. Here are a couple of sites with
more info.

Knoppix
http://www.knoppix.org/

Computer First Aid Using Knoppix
http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

Ubuntu Linux
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Live CD
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

Here's a program which can be used to create a bootable CD from the downloaded
ISO file.
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Interesting approach. I did download knoppix version 3.8 all 750 MB
downloading through my DSL at between 25 and 38 KB/S. Took a lot of
hours. Using the above CD burner program I was able to make a
bootable iso CD. However Knoppix is all in German with little English
making it kind of hard to understand some of the screens. The one that
is suppose to look like explore in windows seemed kind of different.
Also could not figure how to close down the program or take the CD out
once I started. Had to turn off the power and on re-powering had to
get the CD out before it started booting on it again. They are leaving
tomorrow so no time to play with it. Still not completely sure if C
drive is fried or not but could see some files under Knoppix which is
a good sign. They will probably take it to a computer repair shop they
have gone to before with some luck.
Thanks again for response.
email response not expected but to respond remove .uk at end
TIA
Hank
.

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