OS is now on E: instead of C:; Recovery doesn't work

Okay, thanks. I'll try it.  I made the USB, but couldn't get the computer to boot from it.

You need to enter BIOS and make sure USB is ahead of your optical drive or hard disk in the boot order. According to your manual here, you can also tap F12 at boot to select your boot device.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/553559/Dell-Xps-8300.html?page=109

Edit: You want USB Storage Device. 

Edited by JohnC_21, 01 January 2016 - 06:13 PM.

FWIW, drive letters are somewhat arbitrary. They are assigned by Windows operating systems. When you boot from a recovery disk, eg a DVD or a recovery partition, you are in fact using a different operating system than the one you are trying to repair, as you can't boot this one. So I wouldn't mess with drive letters, this is a red herring.

The question is, how much effort & money are you willing to spend on the old pc?

One possibility is a faulty hard drive. So, any attempt to fix errors might be doomed, and would be a waste of time.

If the pc is 5 years old and has never been formatted and reinstalled, now might be an opportune time. I know people who would format their hard drive annually because of the crap that accumulates. Of course, you'd need to backup any personal data with something like a linux live CD/USB first.

Edited by Adam Pollard, 01 January 2016 - 06:14 PM.

JohnC:

I'd looked at the BIOS, but somehow mistakenly thought that "USB hard drive" wasn't the USB flash drive.  I went into the BIOS and put that as first boot and it's loaded and running!  I can see everything on my hard drive.  My last backup was only one day before windows had its brains scrambled, so I think I have everything saved.

My new computer is due to be shipped Jan 12. Hopefully, they'll ship it sooner than that!

Thank you again for all the help. I appreciate it.

Once you get your new computer, and had some time working with Mint, consider installing Mint on the Dell XPS8300. I think you will surprised on how well it runs when installed on a hard drive. 

That's a good idea. I'll try it once I get past the drudgery of re-installing and configuring all my software. I've gotten the internet connection set up with Mint, but I'm wondering about a firewall and antivirus?  I'll start reading some forums, but please give me the scoop on that.

No Antivirus on Mint. Just be sure to set it up with a strong password. You can enable the firewall using terminal. That would be a good question for the Linux Forum.

You can activate it in terminal using this command. Terminal is similar to Command Prompt.

sudo ufw enable

sudo is short for superuser do. You will be asked for the password you created when you first installed Mint.

You can look at this page for things to do after it is installed. For any question on any of the steps or if any are necessary you can get good help in the Linux Forum. There are BC Advisors on the Forum with a lot of linux experience. Good Luck.

Edited by JohnC_21, 01 January 2016 - 07:04 PM.

Thank you. I didn't actually install Mint because it's on the USB. I was never asked for a password. I'll check out the Terminal and the Easy Linux Tips.

Thanks again.

You will not be asked for the password on a USB unless you decide to add a user. I am not sure if that is possible using a USB with persistence. That would be a question for the Linux Forum. You may be able to enable the firewall with the USB but I am not sure. That would be another question for the Linux Forum. 

FYI - I looked at the terminal and typed in the words and it says, "Firewall activated on startup"

Thank you for all the information. I really appreciate it.

No problem. When rebooting the USB you can check if the firewall is still enabled by typing the following in terminal

sudo ufw status verbose

As shown on the 10 steps page.

Question:

Could I install Mint on the second hard drive and boot from there? I'd use it that way until the new computer arrives.

I've discovered why I've had so much problem getting results from tapping F12 .... When the computer boots, it often skips that screen where F2 and F12 are options.  I usually have to restart several times until I manage to get that screen and hit F12 at the right moment.  I think that installing mint on the second hard drive would solve that problem for the moment.

When in BIOS do you see both hard drives listed? Can you move the drive you want to install linux on to boot before your Windows drive? If you can do this then yes, you should be fine installing Linux Mint on the hard drive. Just be sure you have data you need off the drive.

I  looked again at your post #18. Disk 1 has three partitions and one of those looks to be the Dell Recovery Partition. This would reset your computer back to Windows 7 but you would need to change Partition 2 of Disk 1 back to active. Then do the Dell Factory Restore. You would also need to set Disk 1 to boot before disk 0 in BIOS.

I'll have to look at BIOS again, but I think that I saw both hard disks.  I installed the second hard disk to use as a scratch disk for photoshop. It has files on it now, but I don't know how they got there.  I've looked at them and they appear to be copies of the program files and user folder. A backup, maybe?

One of the repairs offered the option to do the factory restore, but didn't want to wipe out my current windows info.

Would it be possible to set Disk 1 before Disk 0 and just leave windows as it is?  Alternatively, could I install Mint on the same disk with Windows?  I was just curious as to how ti would run. I don't want to go through a lot of hassles and time just to try it out.  Using the USB drive is okay for the moment.

Installing Linux to Mint on DIsk 1 would be okay but I was curious as to why you did not want to wipe your current Windows info because as of now, it is broken and I doubt it is repairable. If you can set Disk 1 to boot before Disk 0 then go ahead but I would avoid doing a dual boot of linux and Windows especially when Windows is broken. Mint might detect a Windows installation on Disk 1 and try to install along side Windows. If it does, go ahead and see what happens. 

Also, if you are fine booting to USB, I would post a new thread in the Linux Forum. Reference this thread and ask the questions there. BC Advisors have more experience on Linux then me and they may suggest something different.