So, while attempting to auto-upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS last night my primary computer went all "go fuck yourself and die" on me. It lets me enter my password, then displays a few error messages, and then just kind of hangs up.
I'm going to do a fresh install. I think this happens every time I do an automatic upgrade from one version of Ubuntu to the next. One of these times I will learn, and just do the fresh install from day 1 instead of trying the on-the-fly upgrade, but I'm a slow learner. My laptop (which has basically nothing but internet and GIMP) upgraded without a hitch. Weird.
So anyways, I have all my stuff in the downloads and other folders on my primary HDD. I live-booted 14.04 off of the USB and I found it (right where I left it) but I could not get access to my 2tb disc where I keep all the files I dont like loosing when I upgrade linux and it goes all flaky on me. The drive showed up, but computer would not access it.
I figured out that if i recreated my old account it would let me access the drive. My files are safe and I will resume doing the linux reinstall. Winning.
It is a small victory, but I'm pretty happy about it.
See you all in a few hours when its done re-reinstalling.