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Thrill
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Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb
#26692551 - 05/24/20 12:16 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Hoping someone can help. My laptop shit out yesterday. It froze up, I tried restarting it, and now it just gets stuck on the windows 10 log in screen. It freezes at various points when I try to put my password in. Sometimes it freezes when I swipe up to get to the password screen. Sometimes it freezes on the password screen. It never lets me type in the password.
I went and bought a new one, cause fuck it, this ones been slow, and I gotta have a computer. But theres a lot of files on that laptop that I need to get. All my pictures and text files, tax returns and financial shit. All my photoshop work and just everything. Its all basically in one specific folder. Theres stuff on the desktop and elsewhere, but if I could get just that one folder Id be happy enough.
I know theres a lot of computer knowledgeable folks here, if anyone could help me try to get into this thing, Id really appreciate the help.
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singlet_oxygen
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26692755 - 05/24/20 02:03 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Easiest option is to boot another OS and see if it's a problem with the Windows install.
Something like this would work to run another OS off a USB and copy files you need off the hard drive. https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/tutorial-create-a-usb-stick-on-windows#1-overview
If it's not the OS that's at fault but some piece of hardware (other than the hard drive). Then you might need to remove the hard drive from the laptop. It's likely to connect over SATA and you'll probably want to plug it into another computer with a SATA-to-USB adapter, relatively cheap on ebay.
If it's the hard drive at fault then things get more tricky. But that's doubtful if you're getting to the Windows login screen.
It's probably a piece of hardware other than the harddrive.
-------------------- 1O2
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26693382 - 05/24/20 06:37 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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If you have unneeded external devices attached to your computer disconnect them. Start with a bare minimal machine. Since you're concerned about data on your old computer, getting your data transferred should be looked at first, then fix the computer later. You could try to boot to a live Linux USB flash drive or CD (if your computer has an optical drive) have an external hard drive connected while trying to boot the live Linux OS. If you are able to boot to the live Linux OS successfully, navigate to the folder you are most concerned about & copy it to the external hard drive first then copy any other data you want. You could also pull the hard drive from your old computer & mount it in an external enclosure or device, attach it to your new computer, copy your data to your new computer that you are most concerned about first, then copy anything else you want. If either of these solutions do not work then it is most likely your hard drive is bad. If you are successful getting your data transferred you still could have a bad hard drive but it could also be other things. Some common things such as system software, malware, logic board, CPU, RAM & attached devices. Once you have your data transferred check back & we'll try to help you troubleshoot your device.
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26693578 - 05/24/20 07:55 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Appreciate the advice, Ill look into all of the suggestions.
The laptop is an Asus S550 CA model, one of the older ones with an Intel I5. Its been a little sluggish and slow for a while now, but it really started shitting out once I started running the Folding@Home program, which coincided with me being home the last 2 and a half months and the laptop being on pretty much 24/7, watching movies and internet browsing on top of the F@H. Movies and shows started stuttering and stuff took longer to load, and then finally yesterday morning I tried to open a new Firefox window or something and it just froze completely. Manually turned it off and back on and I cant get past the windows sign in screen.
Tried more today and cant get past it. Ill have to try getting into it some more and trying some of the suggestions. The first thought I had was if I could pull the hard drive and connect it to this computer and recover the stuff I want.
Family members have said to take it to Geeksquad or something and see if they can get into it, buuuuuttttt, with all the mushroom and cannabis growing photos, Id rather not have someone else digging around in there and risk exposure from an uptight do gooder. lol
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26694381 - 05/25/20 07:34 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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If your comfortable making a Linux live CD/USB or taking your hard drive out, I would probably hold off taking it anywhere until you try those things.
If you're getting to the login screen, you can also try booting into safe mode by holding down your "Shift" key while selecting the power icon in the bottom right & select "Restart" (continue holding down the Shift key down while selecting restart. This will bring you to a page titled "Choose an option" (at this time do not select any other options than what is instructed next). From here select "Troubleshoot", then select "Advanced options", then select "Startup Settings", then select "Restart". Upon restarting it should boot to a screen "Startup Settings". From here select option 4 (Enable Safe Mode) with the "4" key on your keyboard because you may not have mouse control. Once at the login screen try to log in (booting in safe mode may actually take longer than normal mode). If successful you can attached a USB drive & it should recognize it but it may not pop up as in normal mode so you may have to look for it in file explorer. Then copy your data onto the USB drive.
Also if you're able to boot into safe mode your system core software is probably okay.
One other thing I would not have your computer on except for data transfer attempts. Because if your hard drive is bad, the more your computer is on the worse your hard drive could potentially get and possibly be unable to retrieve data with out special conditions/utilities
Good luck
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mycomyst
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26694416 - 05/25/20 07:57 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Good advice and suggestions. Worst case, your hard drive is failing. Remove it from the laptop and use an enclosure or usb adapter and connect it to your working laptop and retrieve your files. Do not use or run your old laptop anymore, until your data is backed up. If your hard drive is failing, the next time you use it could be the last time it works!
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26694557 - 05/25/20 09:34 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
BigGameHunter said: If your comfortable making a Linux live CD/USB or taking your hard drive out, I would probably hold off taking it anywhere until you try those things.
If you're getting to the login screen, you can also try booting into safe mode by holding down your "Shift" key while selecting the power icon in the bottom right & select "Restart" (continue holding down the Shift key down while selecting restart. This will bring you to a page titled "Choose an option" (at this time do not select any other options than what is instructed next). From here select "Troubleshoot", then select "Advanced options", then select "Startup Settings", then select "Restart". Upon restarting it should boot to a screen "Startup Settings". From here select option 4 (Enable Safe Mode) with the "4" key on your keyboard because you may not have mouse control. Once at the login screen try to log in (booting in safe mode may actually take longer than normal mode). If successful you can attached a USB drive & it should recognize it but it may not pop up as in normal mode so you may have to look for it in file explorer. Then copy your data onto the USB drive.
Also if you're able to boot into safe mode your system core software is probably okay.
One other thing I would not have your computer on except for data transfer attempts. Because if your hard drive is bad, the more your computer is on the worse your hard drive could potentially get and possibly be unable to retrieve data with out special conditions/utilities
Good luck 
I tired holding shift while I did a hard restart, but it didnt work. I cant click any of the icons while on the password screen. The typing cursor usually wont flash and most of the time wont show up. Usually I boot it up, it gets to the front screensaver page where you gotta swipe up for the password page. Sometimes itll load the password page, sometimes itll just stall right then, sit there for a few minutes, then itll go blank and revert back to the swipe up screen.
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26694665 - 05/25/20 10:28 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Thrill said:
I tired holding shift while I did a hard restart, but it didnt work. I cant click any of the icons while on the password screen. The typing cursor usually wont flash and most of the time wont show up. Usually I boot it up, it gets to the front screensaver page where you gotta swipe up for the password page. Sometimes itll load the password page, sometimes itll just stall right then, sit there for a few minutes, then itll go blank and revert back to the swipe up screen.
At this point I would pull the drive from the unit & connect it to your new computer & copy the data off if possible. You could still try the Linux live CD/USB but with so many uncertainties with your old computer if it was my computer I would opt for pulling the drive. Like it's been noted you don't want to mess with it too much until the data is retrieved.
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26695587 - 05/25/20 07:23 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Heres another issue I realized. All the bookmarks! I had SOOO many bookmarked pages on that PC. Probably gonna lose all those, arent I? I doubt theyd be on the harddrive, but is it possible to recover those without getting into the computer?
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26695673 - 05/25/20 08:07 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Forget that last post. I see that Firefox automatically backs up bookmarks to a file, so I should be able to get to it. I managed to get the hard drive out of the laptop, gonna look around for a connector to connect it to my new one.
Aside from that, is there any value to pulling other parts out to keep? This busted laptop has 2 4 GB DDR3 ram cards, a 24 GB SSD (whatever that is for), then all the stuff like USB/headphone card and fan and what not.
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26695693 - 05/25/20 08:20 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Thrill said: Heres another issue I realized. All the bookmarks! I had SOOO many bookmarked pages on that PC. Probably gonna lose all those, arent I? I doubt theyd be on the harddrive, but is it possible to recover those without getting into the computer?
I had SOOO many bookmarked pages on that PC. Probably gonna lose all those, arent I? - Not necessarily. It depends on the condition of your hard drive.
I doubt theyd be on the harddrive, but is it possible to recover those without getting into the computer? - They do reside on your hard drive, if your bookmarks were synced with other devices.
Your web browser bookmarks reside on your hard drive in your user directory however they are hidden files. Depending what browser you use depends on where they reside. If you sync your bookmarks with other devices those bookmarks should be on those devices. If you don't sync your bookmarks then you would need to attempt to retrieve them from your hard drive.
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26695742 - 05/25/20 08:50 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Thrill said:
Aside from that, is there any value to pulling other parts out to keep? This busted laptop has 2 4 GB DDR3 ram cards, a 24 GB SSD (whatever that is for), then all the stuff like USB/headphone card and fan and what not.
The 24 GB SSD may be part of a hybrid drive configuration. Depending on how it is configured you may not see any data on your drive by connecting it to another computer. In other words one possible configuration could be two physical drives be used to form one drive as far as the operating system sees it for a combination of speed (SSD) and large amount of storage (platter hard drive) and the operating system determines what data is used on the SSD. By breaking that configuration you may lose the ability to see any data on the hard drive externally.
What's the make and model of your laptop?
Once you report back with the make & model, I'll try to see if I can find what configurations they may use for the SSD with that laptop.
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26695756 - 05/25/20 08:57 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Oh shit, that would suck HUGE to not be able to get anything.
Its an Asus S550CA, one of the older models with the Intel I5 processor.
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chibiabos
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26697160 - 05/26/20 02:09 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Not too familiar with how Windows is put together, but it's not that surprising that you're running into problems like this after more than two months of uptime. It could honestly be anything from your computer just having a bunch of instructions to churn through that it was waiting for a system restart to actually start executing to corrupted files to contacts and traces on the actual motherboard failing on account of oxidation.
If it's booting up then that's probably a good sign for the hard drive, but since you have data you don't want to lose on it you should back it up before you do anything else.
Either way, your laptop isn't designed to be running for months on end. You might be able to get away with it for a while if the OS is designed to let you get away with it for a while but, as you've found out, eventually it's going to catch up with you.
Edited by chibiabos (05/26/20 02:16 PM)
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26697817 - 05/26/20 07:29 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Did a little research on the model of your laptop. It appears one configuration of the 24GB SSD is to use it for caching of most used files. That is probably the configuration it came with when it was new. If you haven't erased & reinstalled your OS then it is probably still that way. If it is that configuration I don't believe you will be able to see data on that drive externally because the configuration will be broken. At that point I would put the drive back into computer and try to boot into safe mode with a USB drive attached or boot to a Linux live CD/USB with a USB drive attached or a Hiren'sBootCD PE if your unfamiliar with Linux. Unfortunately to get into safe mode, it is selected through Windows 10. Since you can't get into Windows you can get into safe mode a dirty way Here is the link that explains how to get into safe mode when you can't boot the system. Basically you press & hold the power button until it shuts down & repeat that step for a total of 3 times then the next start up should produce the Windows recovery environment & then follow the steps on the page to actually select safe mode. If you are unable to get into safe mode, then try to boot to to one of the two USB options I mentioned earlier. You will need to select the device you want to boot, To do this we will need to enter a boot up menu or the UEFI. Usually this is also done through Windows 10 but this suggestion may work also. Power on the unit & immediately press the ESC key several times until the boot menu appears, then select your USB drive with the Linux or Hiren's on it & proceed to boot. If that doesn't work you can power on the unit and immediately press the F2 key several times to enter the UEFI/Bios to change the boot order here is the link that explains the steps to do that.
If you are unsuccessful check back & we'll see if we can figure something else out.
The reason I would do these options before trying your drive in your new computer is if your SSD is used for caching then if you connect your drive to your new computer it may ask you to initialize the disk so to avoid your disk accidentally getting initialize. I think it would be safer to try the other options first.
If you erased & re-installed your OS sometime in the past there's a chance the 24 GB SSD isn't used for caching, then you should be able to connect your drive to your new computer & attempt data recovery.
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chibiabos
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26699584 - 05/27/20 02:02 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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What do you think would happen if he just left the laptop on whatever screen it appeared to hang on for several hours?
Mostly asking because I'm not too familiar with Windows and wonder whether it's just backed up with overdue system updates. If he's getting to the login screen then it sounds like it's actually booting up fine and that the issue has to do with whatever happens after it starts waiting for a user to log into the system.
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: chibiabos]
#26700299 - 05/27/20 07:53 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
chibiabos said: What do you think would happen if he just left the laptop on whatever screen it appeared to hang on for several hours?
Mostly asking because I'm not too familiar with Windows and wonder whether it's just backed up with overdue system updates. If he's getting to the login screen then it sounds like it's actually booting up fine and that the issue has to do with whatever happens after it starts waiting for a user to log into the system.
If it is a software issue such as a driver, third party software or settings it may or may not have resumed normally after several hours. If it is a hardware issue mostly likely it would not resume normally.
Booting into safe mode successfully usually proves the system software is okay and that it is most likely 3rd party software, drivers or possibly malware. It still could be a hardware issue if the hardware only malfunctions when it is being taxed more. A bad hard drive can produce the same symptoms the user is experiencing. Not saying it is definitely a bad hard drive, however since the user indicated he was concerned about losing his data one has to assume the hard drive could be bad & if the hard drive is bad the longer you have power to the hard drive the more your odds decrease in retrieving data easily. Running diagnostics can shorten the life of a bad drive which is why it is important to do what you can as soon as you can to recover the data using minimal uptime for the drive. Even though it seems to boot to the login screen fine the next bit of data the system is trying to load could be on a bad spot on the hard drive & it sets there forever stressing the drive trying to load that bit of data but can't & nothing else responds until that data is loaded which simulates the computer being froze/sluggish/lockup. As far as the updates still being applied at the login screen causing the issue, I suppose it's possible but most of the updating process is completed once the login screen is reached. If he's running Windows 10 delaying updates is not as easy as it was in previous operating systems & it will only allow you to delay them for a certain period of time unless you set a group policy but that requires Windows 10 Pro or higher. The problem the user is experiencing is not related just Windows. I repair a lot of Macs too & I've seen these symptoms on Macs too
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26700359 - 05/27/20 08:16 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Windows did do an update the last time I turned the bad laptop on. It seemed to do it fine.
I still havent done anything with the drive or anything. Im getting the drive connector tomorrow in the mail to connect to my new one, but Im still gonna look into trying the other few things that were mentioned.
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26700985 - 05/28/20 06:00 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Good luck
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: BigGameHunter]
#26701619 - 05/28/20 11:31 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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So my totally uninformed thought process thinking about it last night was that if its using the SSD to cache processes that it would seem likely that it would have been set to do that for the C partition, since that's where the system stuff is stored. It would have probably left the D side alone.
So I got the drive connector today and with that line of thinking (and since the lil instruction booklet said you have to manually do the initializing thing) i went ahead and plugged it up.
Sure enough the D side is there, including the folder I really needed. So I've got it copying over to the new PC now. Once that's done I'm gonna look around and see if i cant find a backup of all my bookmarks and maybe my VLC playlist folder too.
Even if not though, I have the main folder I need. I can try to get the other stuff later through some of the other methods suggested.
Thank you guys soooo much. Yall really helped me out!
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Thrill
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26701753 - 05/28/20 12:31 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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And after looking around, I think I found the source of the problem.
I managed to find the C side of the drive too. Everything opens fine, all except for my Windows user profile. I couldnt get it to open. Searching for the bookmark backup just stalls out, I assume when it gets to the User Profile folders.
So I guess I cant get to the bookmark backup since its almost definitely in there (looked everywhere else). But I got the main folder out cleanly, so its still a win.
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BigGameHunter
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Re: Need some help with some PC problems. Im computer dumb [Re: Thrill]
#26701944 - 05/28/20 02:14 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Thrill said: And after looking around, I think I found the source of the problem.
I managed to find the C side of the drive too. Everything opens fine, all except for my Windows user profile. I couldnt get it to open. Searching for the bookmark backup just stalls out, I assume when it gets to the User Profile folders.
So I guess I cant get to the bookmark backup since its almost definitely in there (looked everywhere else). But I got the main folder out cleanly, so its still a win.
Not accessing your user directory could also be a permissions issue or a bad spot on the hard drive.
However you may be able to just copy C:\Users\MyUserDirectory\ & get everything.
MyUserDirectory = the name of your local account. For example your local login account may be John Doe. Your User directory path would be C:\Users\John Doe\
Or the following may be possible too:
Your bookmarks are hidden files/folders. It's possible search will not find them until you enable "Show hidden files". You can enable "Show hidden files" in the Control Panel. Go to Control Panel, then select "File Explorer Options", then select the "View" tab, then scroll down to "Hidden files and folders", then select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives", select OK or Apply. Your bookmarks should be available to see.
For Chrome the default location is C:\Users\MyUserDirectory\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\
For Firefox the default location is C:\Users\MyUserDirectory\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\somename.default\ (somename.default is some name Firefox gives to that folder. For example 21j8pq3a.default)
For Edge the default location is C:\Users\MyUserDirectory\AppData\\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\AC\MicrosoftEdge\User\Default\Favorites\
You can also type the path into a file explorer bar & go to location regardless of whether "Show hidden files" is on or not.
Edited by BigGameHunter (05/28/20 02:28 PM)
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