What made me unhappy today ?

[defaux]

Definitely my plan at this point. Most of the troubleshooting guides reference screens I can’t even get to when the recovery environment or safe mode won’t start, so it doesn’t seem worthwhile to risk file loss by poking around more.

That error sounds like the boot sector of the hard drive is damaged. Most likely everything else - your data - is fine, but the best action is, as Also suggested, to physically remove the drive and extract the data.

Bear in mind this is without actually looking at it.

Some places change thousands of dollars for data recovery, but it's really a fairly simple thing to do if you know how. Find a good local tech and they'll take care of you. I'd offer to help but, you know, oceans.

 

[defaux]

I should add a note of caution. If you try windows restore or something, there's a good chance it will "reset" and wipe the drive, at which point it becomes more difficult to restore files and you risk permanently loosing data.

 

[big soft moose]

i generally use tiny linux booting off a stick... but a more mainstream approach would be to pull the drive and put it in an enclosure then connect it to another PC

 

[X Equestris]

I’ll be shopping around tomorrow for local repair options, hopefully without breaking the bank and a reasonable turnaround time.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Just don't get sick, whatever you do.

Too late. I'm dealing with flat feet (and, as a consequence, new and very pricy specially-made insoles tailored to my feet) and new shoes that I bought to accommodate them, but the insoles are not sewn into the shoes, so they move around all the time and are painful to walk in. :-\

I can even put up with that pain (I'm seeing the orthotist next Friday), but yesterday (a Friday here) I woke up with a pain in my back that is refusing to go away, even with Deep Heat, heat packs, and hot baths.

What also didn't help was the fact that, as part of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir, today I had to participate in a concert ... and have to do another one in three days' time. (The back pain only happens when I either sit down or stand up, but it's concentrated and very painful).

On the plus side, I'm going to see my physio on Wednesday, so hopefully he can tell me what's wrong. But for now, I'm going to put on the electric blanket and sleep until my name changes to Rath von Winkle. 'Night .................