Thanks for all the info guys :) very much apreciated.. This is why i love the XOOPS community

will take a look at MOVLUG group JM :) (it'll feel strange being a complete newbie again) lmao but i'm sure i'll cope.. i've managed to setup apache, php and the like etc after abt 12hrs of using it, so i'm sure i'll pick it up more as i go along..

and thanks Wilson for pointing me to audacity, that's 1 of the kinds of editors i was looking for.. it does ogg vorbis files too which is a good thing :) wonder if there's a FLAC (Free & LossLess Audio Compression) plugin for it too as that would make it even better.. i couldn't find a FLAC package that was half decent for windows.

now just gotta find some production software for actually writing music (like logic audio and cubase) and i'll be whistlin dixie :)

You must to see at mpg123 and it's plugins.
And JFYI - I'm in the TuxWorld last 7 years (it's short time, but... I hope, I know something)

You know ... Ive been watching this thread and I have to say, I'm really impressed how you guys rally round and support monty. This has nothing to do with XOOPS and yet we have a long thread of informative, intelligent and helpful input on the Linux OS.

This is community support at its best, by anyone's standards. A willingness to share skills and experience, just for the sake of helping one anothet out.

I feel in safe hands.

Hey Monty,

If your hard drive has mechanical or electronic failue your probably out of luck but I have had good luck with tools from Ontrack. Sometimes you have damaged partitions that prevent the OS from accessing the hard drive. It may be a long shot but in my experience their have been times when putting in a boot floppy from Ontrack and accessing the hard drive has paid off handsomely for me.

More time to play with Linux, less time recovering your lost MP3's...I feel your pain.

**Off to back up my Resume and Mp3's, everything else I can do without***

thanks Seth, i have ontrack but unfortunately it's a mechanical fault with it :( i plugged it in last night and all it does is make a loud clunking noise as though the heads just bashing against the cylinder.. and you just reminded me that my darn resume was on there too.. altho i think i have a slightly outdated copy on my gmail account.. might make more use of gmail space and start emailing a lot of my docs to my gmail acct for storage.. lol

@Carnuke, i agreee totally, this community is 1 of the best i've ever seen :)