security updates & external hard disk woes...

[przxqgl]

Great to hear!!
It took a while but we were careful and worked in small steps so as not to upset things.

i really appreciate your help. i was fairly sure that the data existed, somewhere, i just didn't have the first clue where...

then when the "WHAM!" happened and the /Desktop directory went from empty to full of my data, it was a huge releif. i was, hesitantly, ready to give up and start over, even knowing that all the data was intact, but that i just couldn't get to it. it would have been disasterous, but i was prepared for it. now i don't have to worry any longer. 8)

... about THAT disaster... ;-)

One last question, were all these files in a single directory or were there very many of directories?

they were in many directories: i had the following directories in the /media/home/salamandir path, including /Documents, /Downloads, /Dropbox, /Install, /Music, /Pictures and /Torrents that had many files and subdirectories (as you can well imagine, given that it was 31.3GB of information), and they're all back to where they should be...

i'm so happy... thank you

I ask because last week there were a few people complaining Dolphin took on large collections a looong time to populate it's window with content and they had to hit F5 to refresh.
Do you have it set to display Details or are you displaying (large) icons?
In case of the last it might have been slow as after the rename of the file structure it lost the connection with the .icons cache.

actually, all of my windows in Dolphin are set to display "Details" and i've even gone so far as to have "Tiny Icons" rather than the normal small icons, because to me, the filenames mean more to me than what kind of icon the file has... despite the fact that i don't remember what the filenames are, anyway.

i have noticed some subtle differences, however: primarily i use Firefox, and it appears that my "Default Browser" has changed to Rekonq, some, but (strangely) not all of my email is ending up in my Inbox, rather than in the subdirectories that i have filtered them into in the past, and probably other things that i don't immediately notice, but, all in all, it could be a lot worse.

once again, thank you for your patience, understanding and assistance. if you feel like sending me your mailing address, i'll send you some expensive incense, as "payment"... 8)

[przxqgl]

But it remains strange Dolphin needed so much coaching to reveal the hoard...

before my injury i worked as a software tester, and what i saw in this case was surprisingly typical for otherwise "normally" functioning computers... i'm fairly sure that i couldn't reproduce the behaviour in a million years. the problem was clearly a result of what i have come to refer to as "computer demons".

Or make a small donation to this forum.

that's an idea... i have been a member for a while, and, while i never had anything like the kinds of difficulties i had in the past few days, i think that a donation to kubuntuforums dot net would be a great way to pay them (and you) back for all your help...

You've done quite well with your computer, not dumping it right away but instead willing to try various options for recovery.
Hang around this forum and you will end up even more competent in the use of Linux and Kubuntu.

i do a lot of other things: i am a musician and i play with several different bands, and work at a variety of different occupations, so i may not turn into a "regular" here, but, as i said, i have been a member for a while, and every time i need to know something about kubuntu, this is the first place i come...

thanks, once again! 8)