Computer Hell...

When my chinese generator sent 175 volts through my 120v lines, it only fried the other chinese stuff -- my motion light, & kitchen light ballast (Home Depot special). My fridge didn't even blow a bulb inside, thankfully.

lowfog01 wrote:..... and we lost all the software and files

Unless the drive is physically damaged files are always accessible. It takes hours to properly wipe a hard drive. A file, even one that has been deleted has to be overwritten with other data before it's truly gone.

If windows becomes corrupted and won't start but the drive functions you can easily recover your personal files with Knoppix. You can even recover deleted files with recovery software.

Even in the event the drive becomes physically damaged and no longer functions as long as the platters are not damaged there are services that can recover that data but it's $$$.

Outstanding W C--my lightning experience::: all my stuff is on surge protectors & I have at double ground rods on all things electronic--phone,computer,TV,stereo's,elec. fencer, service entrance --the lightening hit the pasture fence--it sounded like an APM--it fried everything in house & shop--pieces of the fencer ended up on my side porch (25 yards distance)--POINT BEING--sometime mother nature is just a bitch sometimes & if she she wants to bite ya in the ass--OH WELL --I had extended warranties on everything I could and made sure lightening strikes were inclusive--computer,TV, etc. Even Zareba gave a new fencer---also--hard drive was salvaged.

I downloaded Knoppix from uTorrent, burned it to the CD-R, but the PC is still starting normally using Windows. I checked the start up in Bios, the CD-R is first in line. I must have missed something here. Ideas?

What was the file and how did you burn it? ISO file?

You can't just copy it to the disc, you need to use disc burning utility.

Knoppix_V
6.4.4CD-201
1-01-30-EN.iso

Used the disc burning "wizard".

I think it's the disc, it's 700MB and it's full. The file is larger then the disc capacity.

Get Knoppix directly from: http://www.knoppix.net/

There are downloads available for both CD-R and DVD disks. The DVD versions are much larger because they have more applications and tools. It will not fit on a CD-R. If all you have is a CD-R writer you need to get the CD-R version.

I prefer using the FTP for downloads of this size and use a USA located site.

See: http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

I also check the hash value on the download to verify the integrity of the file before burning it.

The whole file is on the disc, I was wrong. I'll follow your advice.

A .iso file is a disc image, something like a zip file. You need to burn it as an image, you can't just burn the file itself.

Open your CD/DVD burning software. Specifics will differ depending on what your using but look for something like "burn from image".

If you can't find it download Imgburn and use the "write image file to disc" option in the wizard.

I figured out that's exactly what I did. I used the Microsoft program to write to the CD-R, it doesn't give any options as far as what operation should be carried out. I saw your link, I already downloaded DiscJuggler evaluation program and am writing to a new CD-R as an image.

Any version of Linux will work.

Ironically(?) I'm thinking my motherboard just took a dump too. I was dual booting with XP and Linux Mint. Now I'm on my laptop trying to figure out how I'm going to rebuild my desktop.

This is all new to me and I readily admit I'm not the most patient person. I finally managed to get the correct Knoppix downloaded and copied to a CD-R, got the PC booted with it and then had to do some poking around until I figured out how to copy the files from one HD to the other. I'm still working on it, this is going to take forever. One problem is I was using Quicken 2009 on the other PC, I have Quicken 2004 on this one, I may end up buying the 2011 version.

Anyone care to guess how I can get my email address book out of Outlook Express on the other hard drive? I set up Outlook Express, had to call PennTeleData because I couldn't remember my passwords for either address.

I think it's .wab extension, do a file search for *.wab . Use the import function on the new computer.

There is also some .dbx files that will contain all you email, if I remeber correctly you can just copy these files to the location of your new files and they will automatically appear.

That's the next task.
I have to say this has been a real pain in the ass. I have Quicken back, I contacted Intuit and they looked up my account and sent me a download link for free.
The next time nasty t-storms are predicted I'm shutting down and disconnecting the PC.

I think it's .wab extension, do a file search for *.wab . Use the import function on the new computer.

There is also some .dbx files that will contain all you email, if I remeber correctly you can just copy these files to the location of your new files and they will automatically appear.

.wab is correct. I tried to import them several times, but can't find the file on the other HD. That's it for tonight, tomorrow is another day.

AND...with all this rain the pumps in the cellar have started running again...