[AT] OT- Computer help please

[Phil Auten]

Hi, Stephen,

I don't remember what brand of PC you have, but several manufacturers 
provide a "hidden partition" on the hard drive that can be used to 
restore the PC back to factory settings. On both of my Acer laptops the 
<Alt-F10> keys are pressed together during boot. This enables the 
restore function.  That would, however, wipe out your files. But if 
there is no other alternative it would be worth a try. The laptop I am 
using to type this suffered a hard drive crash a couple of years ago. 
The hard drive was no longer recognized. Using the Acer part number, I 
was able to find the exact same hard drive on eBay. I had to completely 
rebuild my setup, but still much less expensive than a new laptop.

If that $35 thumb drive is bootable, that would still be a good option 
for me.

My 2¢

Phil in TX


On 2/16/2020 5:44 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
> Hi farmer:  When you say no reason to buy anything, I assume you refer 
> to that $35 thumb drive device I mentioned. As I understand it, the 
> thumb drive is bootable, circumventing the hard drive and whatever OS 
> is on the machine.  The sales pitch is that it will take a machine 
> that's bricked and bring it back to life.  Do you have a way to 
> accomplish that for free?
>
> SO
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 15, 2020 at 10:39 PM Indiana Robinson 
> <robinson46176 at gmail.com <mailto:robinson46176 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     No reason to buy anything, Most distributions of Linux will read
>     Windows files. You can copy, paste move etc. and you can download
>     anything for free. I don't putter with old stuff as much as I used
>     to but I've used Knoppix for such things for many years. I don't
>     know if Windows 10 can read Linux files yet or not but I once read
>     that it was soon to be an option. If you install Linux as a dual
>     boot with Windows you can just access your Windows files without
>     having to reboot back into Windows to find them or work with them.
>     Half of the Linux learning curve is terminology... If you have
>     become comfortable using Android you are half way there. Android
>     is just a mobile (and tablet) version of Linux. Android is built
>     on and running the Linux Kernel but your desktop box won't run
>     Android.
>
>
>     .
>
>     On Sat, Feb 15, 2020 at 9:33 AM cgs <oxygenfarm at gmail.com
>     <mailto:oxygenfarm at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>         Look at
>         _http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/5-best-data-recovery-tools-for-linux-to-recover-data-or-deleted-partitions_
>
>         On 2/15/20 7:12 AM, Stephen Offiler wrote:
>>         Good to hear it's all set.  I've been seeing ad's for a
>>         device called "XtraPC" which, it turns out, is some flavor of
>>         Linux burned onto a thumb drive for something like $35.  You
>>         can bring back most troublesome old machines from the grave
>>         (assuming the problem is hard drive/boot software, not some
>>         hardware failure of course).  What I do not know is whether
>>         you can access your Windows files under Linux.  Curious about
>>         that.
>>
>>         SO
>>
>
>         -- 
>         Charlie
>
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>
>
>     -- 
>     -- 
>
>     Francis Robinson
>     aka "farmer"
>     Central Indiana USA
>     robinson46176 at gmail.com <mailto:robinson46176 at gmail.com>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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