Can not click on anything -> Need to copy home Dir from other acct to USB HD

[user440]

Backstory:
I installed 8.10 with kde 4.2 and have been very happy with the increase in performance. When I brought down an update, something happened in that I can now not click on (execute) anything on the desktop (menu, programs, anything). The first time this was caused by SuperKaramba I suspect and this latest time was just from a sw update from a few weeks ago. The only "fix" was to create a new profile. This problem is only related to an individual account. While not important for my proposed solution, the original problem was asked HERE

Proposed solution:
As this has happened in two different accounts, I want to start from scratch. What is the easiest way I can copy my files from the affected acct (accout1) using a working account (acccount2) with SUDU? I want to copy these files to a USB HD.

[devils casper]

Plug-in External disk. Press Alt+F2 and type this

gksu nautilus

Nautilus will appear with root privileges. Copy files to External HD.

[user440]

Received the following error:

gtk-warning **: cannont open display:

Tried this both in the problem account (acc1) and the working account (acct2).

I can get to the troubled account console. Would it be easier to mount the drive and copy the files from there?

So if I'm in the troubled account, I need to 1.) somehow (not sure how) mount the usb drive 2.) copy home and it's sub directories over to the USB drive. Again, now sure how to do this or if it would work.

Thoughts?

M

[devils casper]

Post the output of sudo fdisk -l command here.

[user440]

Thanks.

Disk /dev/sda 500.1 gb, 500107862016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders nits=cyclinders of 16085*512-8225280 bytes

Disk identifier=0x15497232  

Device          Boot          Start          End          Block            ID          System
/dev/sda1        *               1           60045    482311431     83            linux 
/dev/sda2                      60046       60801     6072570        5             Extended
/dev/sda5                      60046      60801       60725381     82            linux swap/solarius

[devils casper]

My mistake ! You are using Kubuntu and I posted command for Ubuntu.
I am not using KDE 4.2 and not sure if kdesu is available in it. Its worth to try though. Press Alt+F2 and type this

kdesu konqueror

Or

In command line, execute this

sudo cp -R /home/user_name path_of_External_disk

[user440]

Yep, command not found.


In linux, how do I know the path for the HD? I presume I have to 'mount' it?

Thanks again.

[D-cat]

Normally, when you plug in the USB device, it'll mount automatically. To find out where, just type mount in the terminal. It'll be something like /dev/sdb1 /media/usb_drive or something or other.

If it doesn't auto mount for what ever reason, then repost the fdisk -l with the drive plugged in, we'll give you the right command.

Otherwise, once you know where the drive is mounted, run DC's cp command above.