StarDestroyer.Net BBS

My laptop (Asus U35JC with Windows 7, "splashtop" support) is fucked thanks to a (Nvidia) graphics driver update, causing it to be unable to boot into the Os without crashing or even into safe mode. (Presumably due to the official Nvidia driver being incompatible with Asus's Optimus related mods & crap)
Fortunately-ish I still have a week left on the warranty, but the solution offered is a complete wipe, and I'd really like to back up some of the files on my laptop. (My critical data is all on Dropbox, but there are some photo folders, and other files that aren't backed up).

I thought of trying to boot using a minimalistic Linux Distro (Like Ubuntu or whatever) which might sidestep the fucked up driver, but I'm unsure which, and I don't want to waste hours downloading 3-4 random versions, loading them onto a USB then wasting time mucking around with them. I wanted to ask if anyone has any easy recomended apps that I can just load onto a USB/HD, then use to recover some of the files without getting stuck due to the malfunctionig graphics driver.

(Tech note: Booting into the normal Win 7 OS -> Desktop displays, then an error beep-squeal, and unresponsive. Booting into Safe mode, or safe mode + network support - Gets stuck while trying to load Winsys.PNS or somesuch (I can look it up exactly if needed).
In "Splashtop" (A custom Linux distro Asus has on its laptops) it works just fine, but doesn't let me install anything (such as a rollback of the driver), or access system files. (It's a "Fast booting, Photos,Browser only" custom Distro that came with the laptop).
The system has Flash-Bios support. (But that would probably wipe out everything, right?).


Many thanks in advance!

(And yes, to those who might remember, I've had this problem in the past. I've forgotten what Distro I tried to use back then, and it was a hardware error, so it didn't help). (And like I said, there's nothing Critical, but I would like to backup the few gigs worth of stuff I have there that isn't backed up). My backup regime isn't very stringent during Exams, what can I say .

and you can't get the files using the built in splashback?

Any of the Ubuntu releases will support reading from an NTFS drive.

madd0ct0r wrote:and you can't get the files using the built in splashback?

The Splashtop fucker won't let me do anything file related except browse photos using a flash based POS.

Any Ubuntu Live USB you say? OK, thanks, I'll give that a shot then..

I assume since you're considering downloading a Linux distro, you have access to another working computer? Why not just pull the drive and plug it into said PC? For work, I use a SATA to USB converter (not that particular model) for when one of our laptops goes south and I need to recover data.

Hooked up Ubuntu live CD -> USB, backed up my shit, and did a factory rewipe (F9) of the laptop to working order. Nothing left to do but uninstall 53 pieces of vendor crapware .
And I found out that my backup HD isn't out of date. Instead, it's NOT Working. At all. Best to find out this way I suppose.
Thanks for the advice, and viva Ubuntu! (Even if Windows is better )

The Grim Squeaker wrote:And I found out that my backup HD isn't out of date. Instead, it's NOT Working. At all.

If that's an external HDD, it's not 7+ years old and you can open it without resorting to sledgehammers, it's likely that you can swap the HDD inside. So you may be able to save either the enclosure OR the HDD (depending on what is actually dead).

If you have a desktop PC you can also open the case and plug the SATA drive in even well after boot if I'm not mistaken.
At least my PC does this and it's from the Stone Age.

I thought of trying to boot using a minimalistic Linux Distro (Like Ubuntu or whatever)

Ubuntu isn't minimalistic at all, it's a bigass bloated thing. Minimalistic while still full-of-features (and with enough integrated drivers to run on anything) ones are Puppy Linux (200-ish mb) or slitaz (40-ish mb). Both run comfortably in 1 GB of ram and can still work fine in 512 Mb ram.

In "Splashtop" (A custom Linux distro Asus has on its laptops) it works just fine, but doesn't let me install anything (such as a rollback of the driver), or access system files. (It's a "Fast booting, Photos,Browser only" custom Distro that came with the laptop).

This thing can either sit in your HDD or in a dedicated flash chip on the motherboard (depending on the model). If the latter I'd try to nuke it and replace it with Puppy Linux, it can self-install itself from live-cd into motherboard flash chips as well as HDDs and USB drives, just keep the savefile in the HDD.

Mwahaha. Partitions rock. All my pictures, downloads remained. And thank you Pc Decrapifier and ninite! Smooth clean restoring .
(Now to find the warranty for that stupid backup HD ).

Thanks again! (Better safe than sorry)

TheFeniX wrote:I assume since you're considering downloading a Linux distro, you have access to another working computer? Why not just pull the drive and plug it into said PC? For work, I use a SATA to USB converter (not that particular model) for when one of our laptops goes south and I need to recover data.

Does that support those weird drop-in HDDs?

What weird drop-in HDDs? Do you mean 2.5'' laptop/SSD drives? If so, then it will.