Question Quick linux ?

[NightHawkRMX]

Hello, I have an old laptop HDD I want data from. When I use it in my USB HDD adapter connected to my desktop pc, Windows 10 doesn't see it, even though it worked using the same method before. I put the HDD back in the laptop, I can boot into the laptop HDD running Windows 10, however, it's so slow I can't use it to do anything. I have created a Lubuntu Linux USB drive and booted into that on the laptop and it's fairly quick, meaning the HDD is definately on its last legs causing windows to be slow, why i stopped using the laptop a while ago. I plugged in a spare hdd using the USB adapter into the laptop. Lubuntu sees both the hdd i need data from and the external drive i want to copy data too. The problem is, when I copy my user's folder from the laptops HDD, I can't paste it to the other drive.
I believe this is a permissions issue, but how do I fix this. I know how to do this in windows, but I'm a Linux noob and deathly allergic to the terminal, although i can use it to get apps from repositories and some other stuff.

 

[USAFRet]

Don't try to copy the whole /User/ folder. That is indeed a permission issue.

Drill down in that folder and user subfolders, and copy just the individual files you need.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Unfortunately, all of my files I want are under the user's folder and still won't copy. Could i fix the issue by opening nautilas as root, although that ubuntu trick doesnt seem to work in lubuntu.

 

[USAFRet]

Unfortunately, all of my files I want are under the user's folder and still won't copy. Could i fix the issue by opening nautilas as root, although that ubuntu trick doesnt seem to work in lubuntu.

Within Windows, if you find an individual file, you still can't copy it?

 

[USAFRet]

Put the drive back in the original laptop.
Deal with it being "slow".
Copy what you need.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Even opening both folders as root within linux didnt fix this. I can't use windows on the drive to copy the files.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I can't deal with it being SLOW. It takes no joke 5 minutes to open the file manager and then it says not responding and never goes away. I tried backing up my data once and it never got to copy before going eternally not responing. I cant even get to a folder to copy it. I think i might put the laptop hdd in my desktop, however, I don't feel like pulling the side panel off rn.

 

[USAFRet]

Well, the drive may be dying. You may have left it too late.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Well ok. I did get it to show up in my desktop but I really can't open any folders due to the HDD being soooo slow. I'll just keep waiting and try to get my files off of it (and ignore the horrible noises coming from the drives).

 

[USAFRet]

Well ok. I did get it to show up in my desktop but I really can't open any folders due to the HDD being soooo slow. I'll just keep waiting and try to get my files off of it (and ignore the horrible noises coming from the drives).

Its making weird noises?
You DID wait too long.

My sig pic is relevant here.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I already did back up the data I needed. I figured there may have been a way to look and see if there is anything else I missed. Windows couldn't open most directories on the drive, but i do have some other indexing software that could find my files off of the drive and i was able to copy everything i wanted off, which may have already been backed up. The noises are somewhat random but mostly when I move the drive. My other HDD I have doesn't do this so I'm assuming its abnormal. They are scraping, squeeling, and clicking noises, but somehow the drive is mostly quiet and works fine using treesize but not windows turned upside down.

 

[USAFRet]

If you already have the data backed up, then ignore this failing drive. Replace under warranty if applicable.
If you're not sure if you have everything backed up, your backup procedure is faulty.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I just copied a few folders off awhile ago when i thought the drive was going. I know my backups weren't like they are now, but i got lucky. I have a 2tb drive to back up my system now. I found a smart scan screenshot on the drive. Sad the poor HGST drive is nearly dead with just 3/4 of a year of power on time.

 

[AllanGH]

You are in a situation that has demonstrated the value of knowing how to do things through a console session.
Download this:
BASH Beginner's Guide
and this:
BASH Reference Manual
and this:
Advanced Scripting Guide
Read them and practice what you will have learned.

Now, open a console session and elevate to root:
Do the following:

root@LocalHost:/home/user# df -l
Filesystem      1K-blocks      Used  Available Use% Mounted on
udev             16415260         0   16415260   0% /dev
tmpfs             3292068     75444    3216624   3% /run
/dev/sda1       960379920 267359860  644165636  30% /
tmpfs            16460332    221120   16239212   2% /dev/shm
tmpfs                5120         4       5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            16460332         0   16460332   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs             3292064        16    3292048   1% /run/user/1000
/dev/sde2      2930134012 164873980 2765260032   6% /media/user/OS1
/dev/sdd2     1927848956 718124768 1209724188  38% /media/user/OS2
root@LocalHost:/home/user#

Identify the source and target drives.

In this hypothetical case, the source would be /dev/sde2 and the target drive is /dev/sdd2.

We need to copy from the /Users/[user_name] directory to wherever you want it to be on the USB connected drive...let's say that you want it in a directory named 'saved'.

So, you will do

root@LocalHost:/home/user# cp -r /media/user/OS1/Users/user_name /media/user/OS2/saved/

That's all she wrote.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Thanks for the help! I will keep this for future reference. I have already figured out another way to do this tho.