The World Needs More Ninjas

So a laptop I recently got through the university has a rather odd defect in the keyboard, so I have to ship it back to the manufacturer for repair. However, I only figured this bug out after I spent a couple days setting the computer up which, for me, includes dual booting and installing Linux.

Thus, the problem is that I need to backup my configuration (and data) before sending it away in case they wipe the drive clean or end up giving me a new laptop (presumably of the same model). Luckily, we purchased an external hard drive last week which gives me a place to do such a backup.

Using a Linux utility for copying partition images (i.e., similar to Drive Image or Norton Ghost) on a bootable System Rescue CD, I was able to mount the USB hard drive in Linux and copy the partition images as well as a backup of the Master Boot Record to the new hard drive.

Now, provided the USB hard drive doesn’t go bad in the time it takes to get the laptop back , I should be able to restore the system in less than an hour if need be!