If you can't boot your computer or it is not working well enough to allow you to back up your data prior to doing some maintenance, like a Repair Install or Clean Install, use a live Puppy Linux bootable CD.
Download the bootable Puppy Linux iso image.
Get the latest version available, Pup-431.iso when this article was written.
If you don't have a burning program that will burn .iso files get BurnCDCC, a small, fast, no frills iso burning program.
NOTE: do not put a blank CD in until BurnCDCC opens the tray for you.
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the .iso file you want to burn to CD or DVD. In this case its puppy linux
3. Select the .iso file
4. Suggestion.... Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"
Make sure in the BIOS Setup, the CD drive is the first boot device. Put the Puppy Linux CD in the CD drive, then reboot your computer. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram. After you get it running and you're at the Puppy Desktop, take the CD out and then you can use the burner software to save all your data to CD/DVD. You can also use it to backup your data to a external USB harddrive or Flash drive, just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with Puppy.
Quick guide for saving data from Puppy Linux:
After you get to the Puppy desktop, click on the drives icon. It looks like a flash drive, top row. It will list all the drives connected your computer.
Click on the Red icon for the drive you want to mount, perhaps a flash drive. Puppy will mount the drive. The drive icon turns green when its mounted.
Minimize the drives mounter window. You will need it again in a few minutes. Drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size, then drag the window to the right edge of the screen.
Now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive. It should already be green. You will see a list of all the folders on the main drive (Usually C:). Shrink that window to the narrowest you can. Drag that window to the left side of the screen. At this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop, Flash drive on the right and C: on the left. Go back to the folders on the C: drive. Click on the Documents and Settings folder, then your user name or all users. Find the folders that has your data then drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window.
Your options are to move, copy, etc. Select COPY. If its to big you will have to open the folder and drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full.
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier. Unmount the Flash drive by clicking on the green icon. You will once in awhile get error messages when unmounting the drive, ignore them. When the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the flash drive.
Plug the Flash drive into the other computer then copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer. Make sure the other computer can read them.
Now delete the data on the flash drive, then take it back to the other computer and repeat until all data is copied.
Download the bootable Puppy Linux iso image.
Get the latest version available, Pup-431.iso when this article was written.
If you don't have a burning program that will burn .iso files get BurnCDCC, a small, fast, no frills iso burning program.
NOTE: do not put a blank CD in until BurnCDCC opens the tray for you.
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the .iso file you want to burn to CD or DVD. In this case its puppy linux
3. Select the .iso file
4. Suggestion.... Check the option "Fix close"
5. Click on "Start"
Make sure in the BIOS Setup, the CD drive is the first boot device. Put the Puppy Linux CD in the CD drive, then reboot your computer. Puppy will boot and run totally in ram. After you get it running and you're at the Puppy Desktop, take the CD out and then you can use the burner software to save all your data to CD/DVD. You can also use it to backup your data to a external USB harddrive or Flash drive, just have it hooked to the computer when you boot up with Puppy.
Quick guide for saving data from Puppy Linux:
After you get to the Puppy desktop, click on the drives icon. It looks like a flash drive, top row. It will list all the drives connected your computer.
Click on the Red icon for the drive you want to mount, perhaps a flash drive. Puppy will mount the drive. The drive icon turns green when its mounted.
Minimize the drives mounter window. You will need it again in a few minutes. Drag the right edge of it sideways to shrink it to its narrowest size, then drag the window to the right edge of the screen.
Now click on the icon that looks like a filing cabinet (kind of yellow) on the main drive. It should already be green. You will see a list of all the folders on the main drive (Usually C:). Shrink that window to the narrowest you can. Drag that window to the left side of the screen. At this point you should have 2 windows open on your desktop, Flash drive on the right and C: on the left. Go back to the folders on the C: drive. Click on the Documents and Settings folder, then your user name or all users. Find the folders that has your data then drag and drop the folder with the data you want to make copies of to the flash drive window.
Your options are to move, copy, etc. Select COPY. If its to big you will have to open the folder and drag and drop individual files until the flash drive is full.
Click on the drives mounter you minimized earlier. Unmount the Flash drive by clicking on the green icon. You will once in awhile get error messages when unmounting the drive, ignore them. When the flash drive icon turns red again its safe to remove the flash drive.
Plug the Flash drive into the other computer then copy all the data files ( I drag and drop) to the other computer. Make sure the other computer can read them.
Now delete the data on the flash drive, then take it back to the other computer and repeat until all data is copied.
