Can I come cry here?

[Anonymous]

Just came here to vent. My trusty computer companion  half-bit the dust. 

I can access the Linux partition, but Windows is seemingly gone (boots to black). I had been working on backing up my files, but of course I lost my budget file and the major project I had to work on this weekend. Right now I can access the web, but no major programs and no files. (I like Linux a lot, but I can't accomplish the specific things I need to right now.)

This laptop is literally held together by binder clips; the hinges are broken and it has to sit in a cardboard box to prop up the screen. It's been through a lot. It's ages old (maybe 7yo? which is great for a personal laptop) 

I was just beginning my rebuild, so the loss of that budget file is tough. I'm scrambling to put something together in one of the free webbased programs so I can get a sense of where I am financially now and into the future, which is kind of important. 

I may be able to get one unsecured card if I am very, very lucky (waiting to hear, at this point I'm just counting on a denial). If the credit gods smile upon me and that cash (for what would otherwise be a secured card) is freed up, I can buy a cheap laptop to replace  Ol' Faithful and send her to the graveyard. I'd go without for a little while, but I have volunteer responsibilities which require a working computer.

Just trying to remind myself not to make any impulse purchases based on a perceived sense of urgency, and that everything will work out, even if it's a bit tougher for a little while. Maybe it'll even be good for me.

*inhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10*    *exhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5*    Whoo.

[Dalmus]

Two partitions on the same hard drive? Even if you can't boot to Windows, you should be able to access the files from the Linux side.

What format is your budget and project file? If it's Excel or Word, you should be able to pull the files from the Windows position and open them with Open Office on Linux.

Not as good as MS Office, but.at least you would have something!

[Anonymous]

My ex-h set this up 7ish years ago. I believe the Windows side was mounted but all the mounted drives are showing as inaccessible right now (haven't traveled back to Ubuntu in some years) and my tech skills are not quite up to par enough to do anything with that. There are two SSD, both of which I will be removing and placing in an enclosure to attempt to extract files whenever I have a new computer on which to do so. :-\

With my budget file, there was an older spreadsheet but I had just ported everything over to an Access db which was easier for me to work with. I've got something workable now in CountAbout (free trial)

My major issue is that most web programs don't show a balance column, just a single balance at the top. I need to be able to see the balance after each transaction to be able to schedule things out into the future and approximate scenarios (like, hey, major expense coming up in August, now I know how to plan.) I don't know what works for other people, but that works for me. 

I'm finding solutions and I'll survive :-) 

[Anonymous]

Sorry for your data loss. There are programs out there for recovering partitions.

My rule since 2013 or so is to never save files locally. I store everything on Google drive -- the windows app let's you assign a drive to it and just save directly. It syncs between the local store and the cloud immediately.

I also make all my spreadsheets and doc files through Google as well. Never had an issue with lost files since!

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My ex-h set this up 7ish years ago. I believe the Windows side was mounted but all the mounted drives are showing as inaccessible right now (haven't traveled back to Ubuntu in some years) and my tech skills are not quite up to par enough to do anything with that. There are two SSD, both of which I will be removing and placing in an enclosure to attempt to extract files whenever I have a new computer on which to do so. :-\

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Since it's an older laptop there's probably no TPM so you shouldn't have any issue pulling the info off. I would highly recommend getting the enclosure ASAP, put a Linux live image on a flash drive, and booting from there. Then plug in the enclosure and see what it'll auto-mount. Best of luck and feel free to AMA on the technical side.

[marty56]

If it comes down to it. some rent to own places offer PCs/Laptops.  Also Conns is generous with finance but I don't know what their score requirements are.

I use USB stick, drive for backup.  The sticks are very cheap and you don't need much room. 

[Anonymous]

TY all for the sympathy and suggestions.

I was able to purchase outright what you might call a top-of-the-line-budget lapper. Acer E15 E5-575G-57D4 (why must model numbers be indecipherable?) About as good as I'm going to get for my budget and without imperiling my financial situation or "floating" any of my newly-obtained credit, which I refuse to do, even in straits like this. It should also, fingers crossed, have some amount of usability and reliability. And while it mostly drained my savings, that will begin rebounding rather quickly, and it also means that mid-next year (when I was planning to buy about 2-3x more laptop than I did) my savings will, I hope, be in much better shape.

I also found SystemRescueCD with testdisk and was able to rescue 72gb of data from the unbootable Windows disk on the old laptop. Thanks to @ABCD2199 for planting the seed. :-) So without going through every file - I've checked some of the more important things - it appears that my files are fine, but the boot sector must have corrupted. I'm not terribly worried about it now; the previous laptop's SSD can stay safe in its enclosure, and I have the data on the new computer, and looking into backup options now. Google Drive is cheaper ($20/year for 1TB); Onedrive and Carbonite (who took over for Crashplan, which is what I was using to back things up for free before everything started dying) are each $60/year for 1TB and unlimited, respectively. iDrive also reviews well for $70. and I may invest later in an external HD to round out the plan, but I want something automatic, and right now. 

And though I can now access my financial Access database, I'm only going to use it to enter old transactions into the online spreadsheet I created. I learn some lessons... slowly... 

[EAJuggalo]

That looks like a beast of an office machine.  Unless you are doing serious gaming, photo editing or video work that should keep you set for quite a while.  I think you are over estimating how much data you have that actually needs to be backed up.  You only have a 256gb SSD in the laptop.  Most office type files are relatively small and should fit well under the 15gb that Google gives for free.  If you really want to keep up with everything on your machine, you can get a 256gb flash drive from MicroCenter for $75, or a 128gb for $33.