log in to temp account only? Gateway NV54

Hey guys, my neice has a 3 month old Gateway NV54 laptop, 3 days ago, when logging in, it started sending her into a "temporary gateway profile" so now she cannot access her personal data or get into her account. When she called Gateway they said they can only do a system recovery to correct this problem but she will lose her personal data.

Is there any way she can get into her account and recover her data to back it up before sending the laptop to Gateway please?

 

If you take out the hard drive and connect it to a desktop computer with SATA data and SATA power cable, and then boot up with the desktop's regular hard drive, you could access it that way.

I was surprised to find that SATA connectors are the same for notebooks as they are for desktops, as are the voltages, evidently.

 

Thanks but we don't have such a cable or experience, is there any way we can get into her account otherwise?

 

If you made an Ubuntu Linux CD, you could burn it to a CD and then boot up from that. Select "Try Ubuntu Without and change to your computer". The operating system will load into memory in a minute or so and then load the desktop. From there you'll be able to access her folders, then save the data to a thumb drive.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

That's another possibility.

Gateway support has no better ideas for getting you into that account? That's sad.

I have no idea why she'd be locked out of her account. Is is a virus or something?

Also, I thought there was an option when you run the recovery discs to save your personal files. I'm nearly positive there is.

 

Appreciate the knowledge, she created a new user account and can see her docs now so all she has to do is burn it, thanks.