I’m a big fan. My Laptop HD decided that it didn’t really like the Vista boot loader and enough was enough. It really did take a nose dive and its pretty much had it. I’m into what must be 60th hour of recovery now. I’ve got most of the data back via a combination of Bart PE,  ActiveUndelete and a eSATA USB caddy.

The point is that I was onsite away from home / office for the week with a knackered laptop staying in a hotel next to Heathrow airport with only a couple of DVD movies (that I could not watch) and the internet (which I could not connect to) to keep my amused. I downloaded the latest Ubuntu ISO and burned to a CD on the nearly but not quite hooped laptop in the DC. I was able to boot from the CD without my HD in the laptop and get access via my wifi card in the laptop, what movies and even confirm that I could still get to my data on the dodgy HD without any messing around. The hardest thing was finding out how to run as root (sudo -i)      

Thanks Ubuntu Guys and Gals for helping me keep my sanity last week. If you’re familiar with Ronseal …. 

http://www.ubuntu.com/ Get a copy now…

http://h71028.www7.hp.com/eNewsletter/cache/567711-0-0-39-121.html