Sent to an Ubuntu user with a disk problem: Recovery of your data may depend on the actual type of damage. If there is some physical failure with the disk mechanism, as opposed to a logical mixup with data (possibly due to power glitch etc.), then things are more difficult and likely need the help of someone who will take the disk apart and get at the physical surface. However, it seems more likely it is logical errors, and many of these are fixable with the Linux fsck tools. Since the errors may affect your operating system, it's better to boot with a Knoppix or SystemRecovery liveCD which have tools on them. I did this for one of my own machines just this weekend. I'm copying this to our OCLUG list to see if anyone has a different opinion. In a separate msg I'll include my phone no. so you can call with questions. JN