It takes a while for non-technical people to “grow up” in a digital sense and take responsibility for data stored outside the brain. This is especially difficult for people who shy away from dealing with abstract knowledge.

Luckily these days hard drives and other backup hardware is so cheap, personally I’ve never had to use the recovery abilities of Gnu/Linux, but I’m eager to find out what I’d have to do, so I’ll surely follow the links provided by the author of this site. I remember Ubuntucat/Psychocat from my early days of using Linux hand how his to the point info has helped me out many times.

My younger brother (who is a MS fan boy, FYI) was really surprised when Linux could do that.
(although the transfer rate dropped on a folder with several GB of data for no apparent reason)

I’m actually not that knowledgeable. Yes, I know more than absolute beginners, but I really can answer only basic questions, and I don’t have a fundamental understanding of the technical ways Ubuntu (or Linux in general) works.

If you have technical questions, you should post them on the Ubuntu Forums. I’m a regular member there, so I may help you out, but there are literally thousands of knowledgeable users there (most far more knowledgeable than I am) who are excited to help new users out.

I can tell from this blog that you are a knowledgeable Ubuntu user. I have some questions I would like to ask. Is there an e-mail address I can reach you at or would here be more appropriate? Thank you for your time.

Sorry, didn’t intend to tar all computer repair shops with the same brush. Of course, there are plenty of conscientious outfits like yours out there. Working myself in the technical side of things where people just think you’re an overpaid geek that “plays” on his computer all day, I’m well aware of how undervalued our time and work can be.

That said, as in any industry there are always short-sighted people and companies who are happy to make the quick buck by charging less so that they get the customers who only care about price, and then those customers get what they paid for. Not realising that, they move onto the next cheap repair shop the next time, only to conclude that computers are a waste of time and the people who work on them are all crooks. Unfortunately, if these people knew what to look out for when choosing someone to repair their computers, they’d be half way to having a clue about how to do most things themselves, and so anyone walking into a shop with their computer probably already, unbeknownst to them, has a “sucker” sign stamped on their forehead. It’s the same in most repair businesses, whether it’s cars or toasters.

But, as I say, good for you guys for being conscientious.

Craig

Btw, I saved one lady’s data by using an ubuntu live cd to get the data off a drive that Windows would not read.