How Ubuntu 10.4 OS saved me from trouble...

I am not much of a techie, though a lot of people think of me as one because of my interest in handling IT Gadgets and tackling software, my very limited knowledge and skill in handling hardware problems, and creating multimedia productions. but still I consider myself a novice in this field.

Well, last few days ago, my laptop of almost three years, went down. My brother told me there was on overload sign that appeared when he last saw it, well true enough, i was a sucker for downloading a lot of movies from my favorite torrent site! hehehehe! I just didn't realized that I have very little space left in my hard drives, which led me to the conclusion that might have caused the overload. Damn! This laptop has been my workstation in everything I do from work, to Rotary stuff, multimedia storage, etc.. and my laptop wouldn't boot the next day I turned it on! Crap!

All my files were there! everything!

But then, I sought advice to a friend/colleague from UPOU, Mr. Joshua Ebarvia, who was, in my opinion, one of the best (and probably the only one I know... hehehehe!) Open Source Software "end-user/programmer" who's been using Ubuntu in all of his work. Not that he despises Mr. Gate's products (hehehehehe!), but he was the one who influenced me to use Windows and Ubuntu side-by-side.

To put it on laymen's terms, if you installed a dual OS system on your workstation, there is a very great advantage that you will be working on a literally virus free scenario! i don't want to say that Ubuntu is the perfect system for such, because still there are certain limitations for using Open Source solely. It's like bragging about your latest, top of the line SIEMENS Phone in a NOKIA-laden world! (Do you see what I mean? Hehehehe!).

So how did Ubuntu saved me from the crap i just mentioned? Well, to put it through, since my broken laptop wouldn't boot anymore, I inserted my Ubuntu 10.4 installer CD, and ran the virtual OS where I got to browse on the files of my laptop in its hard drive, and got it copied using an external hard drive as secondary storage! Whew! and once i got all my files copied and safely stored on my external HD, I ran again the Ubuntu installer disc, this time, installing the full OS on my delapidated laptop! As I consulted Mr. Ebarvia, he told me the overload probably has affected the hardware of my laptop, meaning, the laptop's hard drive must have been compromised already! Scary...

Anyway, since all my files (actually, not everything, but the most important ones) were already saved. I reformatted the laptop. It took me more than 6 hours just reformatting it and installing the OS (usually on a regular laptop/desktop it only takes 2 hours tops to comletely reformat and install Ubuntu on a system). And when I booted it again, damn, my laptop still wouldn't boot.

Well, I gave it a few more days. I just left it, and decided to have it fixed and get the old Hard Drive myself to be later used as external Hard Drive Storage. But a miracle happened! When I turned on my laptop after a few days! It booted on Ubuntu 10.4! Whew! And I thought I was about to call the scrapper for this! hehehehehe!

Right now, I reformatted it once more, and have the dual OS installed on my workstation once again. And it worked perfectly, just like the day i got it!

Moral of the story: Try not to download too much files if your workstation doesn't have enough storage capacity left! Enjoy!