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Author Topic: Dell? Rot in Hell.  (Read 2686 times)

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theinevitable

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Dell? Rot in Hell.
« on: September 05, 2006, 03:44:45 am »
so. my laptop died for no good reason. Dell has basically said "reinstall windows! Sorry!" They refuse to tell me how to back up my files, due to "liability issues." Is there a way to access my harddrive to back things up? I cannot boot into windows. Not even safe mode. Damn.
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slink

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2006, 04:37:59 am »
Unless you want to take the drive out and fit it in an external bay to grab files, I'd just reinstall windows without reformatting. This will leave behind the majority of files on the drive (any non windows folders, plus it will set up new Documents and Settings folders to avoid overwriting the previous ones). You may lose stuff kept in Program Files, but there, by and large, shouldn't be anything there you need.

When you get a chance, I would highly recommend always setting up a boot partition so you can keep your files in a seperate drive to windows. This lets you freely reformat when you need to reinstall windows, and gives you a place to put all the files from the boot drive you wish to keep.
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jough

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2006, 04:40:03 am »
What version of Windows did you have installed?

You can probably get a Linux Live CD/DVD and boot to that.  Most installs will offer read-only support for an NTFS file system (which is what Windows XP has, most likely).

You'll need an external drive or USB flash gizmo to save things to.

I used Slax to save files from my old laptop before.  It was a lifesaver.

http://www.slax.org/
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theinevitable

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2006, 05:05:04 am »
this is where the comp sci major who lives on my hall will come in handy. Because he suggested that he could boot from a linux disc and save my files. yay.

also, he is a nice dude. there were mutterings of some kind of LAN thing in the future. and he likes Neal Stephenson.
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Doc

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2006, 05:13:24 am »
Yay once again Linux proves it's superiority... at retrieving files so you can go back to using windows.
I kid, I use Linux for work related stuff and like it but it does tend to be most useful after windows kicks another bucket.

Pet hate with regards to laptop I got recently: a 'recovery disc' instead of a real installation disc. It automatically partitions my hard drive without so much as a by-your-leave, I had to grab a copy of ultimate boot disc and resize the partitions afterwards which is just moronic.
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slink

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2006, 12:02:00 pm »
Ah, cunning. Hadn't thought of going the Linux route. Most of the people I ever tech support for would cry if I tried to explain to them what Linux actually was, let alone trying to run it.
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CortJstr

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2006, 03:03:03 pm »
Quote from: Doc on September 05, 2006, 05:13:24 am
Pet hate with regards to laptop I got recently: a 'recovery disc' instead of a real installation disc. It automatically partitions my hard drive without so much as a by-your-leave, I had to grab a copy of ultimate boot disc and resize the partitions afterwards which is just moronic.

It could be worse. My mom's HP didn't come with any kind of recovery disc at all. All the recovery files and software are on the D drive which is just a partition of C. So if the drive were to die entirely no recovery can be done.
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theinevitable

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2006, 04:38:47 pm »
yeah, he's having me reinstall from a "disc image." I am not sure whether I actually got a reinstall disc... if I did, it's back in North Carolina.
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Bn1

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Re: Dell? Rot in Hell.
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2006, 05:12:04 am »
Quote from: theinevitable on September 05, 2006, 03:44:45 am
so. my laptop died for no good reason. Dell has basically said "reinstall windows! Sorry!" They refuse to tell me how to back up my files, due to "liability issues." Is there a way to access my harddrive to back things up? I cannot boot into windows. Not even safe mode. Damn.

Urk.. I just got a dell laptop a few weeks ago.
I will find out about this 'boot partition'.. I would rather plan for problems like this before they happen (I'm pretty certain I'll manage to break my laptop fairly quickly).  At the moment I use my ipod as a spare drive to keep important stuff on but that's probably not the most reliable of plans.
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