Here is a rundown of what I am working with. The crux of the situation has to do with the Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. This is where PuppyLinux came in, saved the day for backups, and is now in experimental territory.
My best computer, desktop#1, has Linux Mint Virginia which I am using now until I sort out getting backups completed. You guys have already helped in that department by helping me get the Dell Inspiron files. Thank you for that. Now, I just have to put them in other storage devices. I also have Linux Mint Xia on this computer, but I won't touch Xia until I am ready to basically reformat the whole computer. No, I won't actually do it, but Virginia is working like a charm and I refuse to touch it. I refuse to use gparted. I refuse to partition anything. The only thing I will do on this computer is reformat USBs or try Ventoy installations. That's just the way it's going to be regarding this computer for now. I can't chance losing files.
Desktop#2 has PeppermintOS. It forces me to use the terminal to get what I need, but it's where I am at. It's where I should have been. Right now it is on standby, and it will be housing most of the backups I have. The question is, how good is the hard drive? It's a 10 year old computer and if it only needs a new hard drive I might get one or simply use a spare SSD I have that isn't doing anything now. These are options for later. If I get PuppyLinux stuff working on the laptop/netbook, I might play around with adding it to PeppermintOS in the future. That is, when I see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Desktop#3 has Windows 11 installed. It's actually a much better computer than desktop 2, but it's being reserved for someone else. It might have backups too, and who knows, I might use this as a test case for PuppyLinux before I implement it into desktop 1. Estimate June for consideration.
Now, onto the laptops.
I have access to a Dell Inspiron 15 3000. The problem with this beast is that it has a HDD, not SSD. So, it runs at turtle speed. It has Windows 10 on it now. I hooked up a SSD external drive and this is where I really learned about legacy vs. uefi. It simply wouldn't load unless I changed this setting in the BIOS. Now it can run Windows 11 at rabbit speed.
Again, this is reserved for someone else. Windows must be on it, not linux. Maybe a stupid idea like buying an internal SSD drive might have to be done. Waste of money, but the user of it is not going to care about Linux. Work with what you got.
Next laptop, Dell Inspiron 6000. This is what I was originally planning on putting PuppyLinux on. However, when I started it up (2 years later), I saw an old Ubuntu, and XP!! Nothing in the XP was needed. In Ubuntu, there were, and there are files in the partition that I wanted to back up. I didn't have the exact numbers but the partition was 14.14gb. I now know that 2.2gb was the size of the files I wanted to get. Thanks to PhotoRec and PuppyLinux I was able to back up these (I think). However, I didn't have 14.14gb space to work with. The PhotoRec process stopped, and you can see that in this thread on page 1 where I stated, "Well that ran into a problem." My assumption now is that I was able to get the 2.2gb, but not all of the 14.14 which doesn't matter. Those were probably the Ubuntu files and the next big one was a movie which was over 1gb. So, that means ~13gb of stuff is there that I can't recognize as being worth retrieving.
Keep in mind, I didn't know it was 2.2gb. I figured it was 3gb or less. So, I am pretty content there because I did get a cloned copy of the 14.14gb partition (sda5 referenced in prior posts) in Ubuntu.
williwaw mentioned they didn't look like PuppyLinux files. Yes williwaw!!! That's is what made me look deeper. I did find them in a "Home" location. So, I knew they were there. I showed a picture of that. That is what let me to the PhotoRec stuff.
d-pupp was asking about the distro. I thought I had VoidPup, but you might be right. I probably was using BookwormPup.
I'll make this next part quick. I was able to reinstall Windows XP and save the 14.14 partition in whole using EaseUS Partition Master.
Now, onto williwaw's question.
"So the screenshots of the bookworm32 desktop you previously posted were not on the inspiron 6000?"
They couldn't be, because after getting a new XP, the USB "factor" was non-negotiable. I ran into UEFI Legacy factors and the BIOS in the Inspiron 6000 would not oblige. The point is, I had to get the 2.2gb files and I got them. Now it is experimental time in the Inspiron. It runs XP fine, but there is no need for it anymore. That is why I am using something else.
SOMETHING ELSE
I still have the Acer Aspire D257 with Bodhi Linux. This should answer williwaw's question. NO. What you see now will probably be Bodhi Linux ONLY on the Acer Aspire.
Do we have our facts straight now? Dell Inspiron 6000, running XP. Acer Aspire D257 Bodhi Linux.
on a USB-Key or Hard-Drive. Once up-and-running, changes --new applications, application config files-- are preserved in either a special block formatted Linux --known as an SaveFile.SFS-- or a folder on a partiton already formatted as Linux. Most programs and applications which write operating systems to a USB-Key DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT. They create Keys which are READ-ONLY; Puppys will not be able to write changes.
