Can't boot notebook at all anymore

[Colin Law]

On 25 June 2017 at 15:38, Ralf Mardorf <silver.bullet at zoho.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Jun 2017 11:19:20 +0100, Colin Law wrote:
>>Why not just run the Disks utility which gives you the smart data in
>>the GUI?
>
> Hi,
>
> the output is easy to copy and paste and other than gnome-disk-utility
> there are no gnomish dependencies required. Since the OP is using
> Xubuntu 16.04 there might be a live media available that by default
> comes with more GTK2, than GTK3 packages already installed, so when
> using a GUI gsmartcontrol, a suggested dependency of smartmontools,
> might be more appropriate, to avoid time-consuming downloads. However,
> I simply gave the hint to smartctl, since this is the tool I know and
> btw. a much used tool, if not the most used tool for this purpose. I
> don't use a GUI, so why should I give a pointer to something I don't
> know, if the job easily could be done by command line, even for a
> novice, by a tool I know? Regarding screenshots the GUI you mentioned
> provides the same output as the commandline does. What would be the
> benefit of using gnome-disk-utility or gsmartcontrol and what is
> speaking against smartctl?

I am 90% confident that the Disks utility will be included by default
in the live image (though have not confirmed this specifically for
Xubuntu). If so then there is no downloading involved. If I am right
then no downloading will be required unlike the command line solution.

The disadvantage of using the command line is that one should take
great care when accepting suggested commands without making sure that
there is no possibility of harm being caused.  To do this requires the
OP to understand the commands you suggest before using them.  This is
particularly the case for commands run as root, such as the ones you
are suggesting. A mistake by you in the command you posted, or a
mistake by the user when he runs it, could potentially have disastrous
consequences.

Also I note that when installing smartmontools it asks how the user
would like the postfix mail server configured. You did not instruct
the OP what options he should select for that.  I doubt whether the OP
wants postfix installed

So basically it is much simpler just to use the Disks utility,
particularly if it is already installed.

Colin