-1

Hi computer geeks and nerds, i am in no way a computer guru. My sony viao S series laptop decided to break after just a year. My hard drive failed meaning it held all my work and files including 5year uni work that i hadnt backed up. so i created a live CD using ubuntu.

After a long attempt to get it to load on my computer it finally did. In the ubuntu disk usage analyser i see my files size in 'gb' but i am unable to drag them into my USB for backing up.

When i try to drag it says i have no permission to do so (root owned the folders).

Next i added a new account which is myself as administrator but this only logged me out and asked for password which i never had to begin with.

My weak laptop was on for hours trying to figure this out so i had to shut it down direct from the ubuntu desktop to preserve its life.

please advice what do i do now?.

What is the best option to get my files from my hard drive without further damage to my hard drive etc. Also i tried a bunch of several commands and terminals i found online before then adding new user account none of which worked.

PLEASE help!. I will be keeping a close eye in the next 30mins. Please help me.

Thankyou

Pilot6
  • 90,100
  • 91
  • 213
  • 324
Help-please
  • 1
  • 1

1 Answers1

0

Hold CTRL+Alt then hit T
A Terminal window should open, and you will see a $-prompt where you may type commands.

Type sudo -i nautilus & and hit Enter

This should open "Files" (Ubuntu default file manager) and allow to read (and possibly write to) your old HD.

If that does not work, then your most viable option is using "Testdisk" which is described here

Please read the entrie posting, and note that the actual instruction begin at
Boot your Ubuntu LiveCD ("Try Ubuntu")

Note that you also have special sections later in the answer that helps in using file-copy type recovery - that starts at:
Copy data from the live system to an external drive ... which adds to what is above, at the beginning of this answer.

Community
  • 1
Hannu
  • 5,374
  • 1
  • 23
  • 40
  • Thankyou. The problem is my Hard Drive wasnt coming up. Nothing was coming up. Also operating system was not found before i boot the live cd into my laptop. Also, whenever i try to type commands it says the file directory does not exist. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 13:51
  • Use this from the Live CD! I interpreted the text in your question to say that you can access the files from the Live CD. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 13:52
  • Is that 1 or i next to the command 'sudo nautilus?. Also i believe i already tried this command it tell me that the file directory was incorrect Or not found also i tried them with space and also joined together. Please excuse the naivity i dont know much about computers. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 13:58
  • That is a lower case i, not a number. If this doesn't work, then you will probably need file recovery tools. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 14:00
  • Yes of course the live CD was on when i tried doing this. Otherwise i wouldnt be able to getinto my laptop any other way as the only option before live CD was bios which didnt bring files up either – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:01
  • But you said that will allow me to write to my old HD. It isnt even coming up. I just want to save my files. Please help. I hope you even understand my question as im not great with all these computer terminologies. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:04
  • Or what if i burn a new live CD?, how do i get ownership from root or even disable passwords etc while i dave my files? – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:10
  • If the content of your original hardisk does not appear in the file manager you're 'out of luck' in that regard. What the problem actually is, is hard to determine remotely - through here. Do happen to have a friend or possibly a kind systems administrator at your uni that can help you with this? It appears you need to run the software described in this posting - note that the first image shows Ubuntu system settings > Software & updates. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 14:12
  • Please help. I have courseworks i need to access from the laptop in such a short amount of time or im screwed. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:12
  • Thanks. We are currently on holiday and no one is there until term dates end of the month. I think im saying this wrong. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:15
  • Due to the slight uncertainty I'd reccommend to get help locally. If it isn't possible to access the harddisk and its content with "Files", then you need to try to save files from it with "Testdisk" - as described in the posting I provided a link to. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 14:19
  • in the disk usage analyser under several folders i see folder name: ubuntu, usage 100% size 2gb contents 125775 items.
    It changes sometimes when i go back into it then it shows much lower figure like 50mb. Also it had folders like usr, lib, var, s bin, bin, etc in the disk usage analyser and they werw all high sizes so i assume these are where my files are saved? And next to these it had permission denied cannot scan folders on top like a title.     – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:24
  • Your link had test disk. I didnt install ubuntu iclicked the option "try ubuntu without changing my laptop". So im not sure this applies to me as i didnt over write my windows it just wasnt found. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:30
  • Please click the link above and find Copy data from the live system to an external drive - the 32GB_USB is how you should get your old drive. What is immediately under Computer is the content of the Live CD. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 14:31
  • The description should work for the live cd which is the same as "try ubuntu..." - find Boot your Ubuntu LiveCD ("Try Ubuntu") - note that this is valid only if you do not have access to the files directly, or if that fails. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 14:33
  • When u say under computer you mean the contents inside computer when i click into computer folder? – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:39
  • Oh i think i understand you now. I did have a usb plugged in which i thought was the one showing under devices. Because it was showing only one usb so i assumed it was the one i plugged in. So in that case there should be 2 usbs showing 1 for my hard drive 1 external memory to save my file right??. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:43
  • Do i have to format or do any preparation to my external memory stick(to backup my data). So that ubuntu can recognise it and add my files to it?, or does it automatically show as a normal desktop would? – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 14:48
  • when i click into computer folder - yes. 2 usb - yes. i think i understand you now. :-) . If you get the devices "up" (visible) the only reason to possibly partition and then format them would be to free up all the space - but then you lose all you got there before formatting. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 14:53
  • Thankyou. So since my hard drive usb is not showing. But its my files that are showing onthe disk usage analyser right?, or you cant say remotely?. – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 17:01
  • Are you based in the UK?, maybe i could bring the laptop to you?. Thanks – Help-please Sep 03 '15 at 17:40
  • I'm not in the UK. Disk usage analyser should show content of the disk you what you selected in the first step: Devices and locations. The name is also visible just below "Disk usage analyser" as it is checking and then displaying the content. – Hannu Sep 03 '15 at 17:57