Ugh, I never thought to regularly backup my parent's OpenSuSE install like I do my own PC's and had a hard drive go bad. Sent to Geek Squad and called Ontrack - both places are asking for over $1600 to do recovery. I can't afford that kind of cash for my mom's digital camera pictures as much as I want to get them back for her. If anyone here (or knows someone who) likes to tinker with HD data recovery contact me off list - I can pay for your efforts. I've thought about buying a duplicate HD and trying to swap the platters - but I've never done it before so if you have I would love to hire some local help... Thanks, Josh