Detecting Hard Drive Errors; Linux Installation and whatnot

[Guest sohnata]

Hey folks!

 

I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those guys. One of those who's had to use Linux in a pinch, doesn't know anything about it and frankly, just isn't that smart.

 

Some background - couple days ago, my computer wouldn't boot correctly, of which friends much smarter than me decided it's probably a hard drive failure. It's just unclear which hard drive. So in the meantime, I've got Xubuntu 14.04 on a USB in order to try and figure out what's happening. Two issues - a) I can seem to access all the files on both hard drives fine on Xubuntu which is making me wonder if it actually is a Hard Drive issue and b) I have NO idea how to check for a failure on Linux. I've only just figured out the terminal thing and most googling answers are incomprehensible.

 

But don't worry Linux fans, I'm not here to just use and discard you and return to Windows. I'm actually enjoying the Linux experience so far, especially the aesthetic and want to give it a prolonged go once the issues are resolved. If I wanted to permanently install Xubuntu on one of the drives (assumedly the one that works...) what precautions should I take? Will just following the wizard on the desktop help?

 

Sorry for the rambling type post - I have zero experience with Linux and don't really have a mind for computing in general, so please be gentle :)

 

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