Tugboat Enterprises Selkie Freedom User’s Manual

 

Getting Started

Welcome to Selkie Freedom.

 

This is a powerful program that will help you when your computer crashes due to viruses, spyware, malware or faulty software. Selkie Freedom boots from a USB key and will enable you to recover files from a broken computer and save them on a USB key. It is the only data recovery product anywhere that includes Smart File Finding. It's easy to use, and network independent. Even if your installed operating system, such as Windows XP or Vista, can no longer start up properly, Selkie can still run. Feel the Freedom of Selkie!

 

How does Selkie work?

Selkie runs its own operating system which bypasses Windows to get you your files. The Smart File Finder locates your most important files and recovers them with higher priority over less important files. The Smart File Finder allows you to save space and time by recovering only the files most important to you. It has default settings that we have programmed in based on what most people need.

 

Selkie depends on a small set of components:

 

Tip: Selkie does not support use of a mouse, relying exclusively on your keyboard. You will use your ARROW, TAB, PAGE-UP, PAGE-DOWN, and ENTER keys to navigate Selkie’s controls.

 

Setting Up

Selkie Freedom is extremely easy to use. It works by intelligently transferring your vital files from your computer to the Selkie USB memory key.

 

To start, insert your Selkie Freedom USB key into your computer, and reboot the system (turn the computer off and on). If your computer does not automatically boot into Selkie Freedom, you have two options:
  1. Set your system to boot from a USB key. To select the boot device, enter the BIOS (to find out how to do this, see Getting into the BIOS below), select Boot Order, and select USB-FD(floppy disk) or USB-HDD (disk storage). Save settings and reboot. If you have both USB-FD and USB-HDD options, try USB-HDD first. If your computer still does not boot to Selkie, select USB-FD.
  2. If your computer cannot boot from USB, use the bootable CD that came with Selkie Freedom. Insert the Selkie CD into the CD drive of your broken computer, and restart the computer. The CD will boot the computer and then hand the computer over to Selkie on the USB key. If your computer does not boot to the Selkie CD, ensure that CD is selected as the first boot device in the BIOS. For help on how to do this, see Getting into the BIOS below.

 

Note: You may see technical messages during the boot-up process. Some of these may be error messages generated by Selkie due to hardware it doesn't fully recognize in your computer. Don't worry; this is normal. If Selkie shows its welcome screen (see the section below, “Running Selkie Freedom”), then it has found all the hardware it needs in order to operate properly.

 

Getting into the BIOS:

When your computer is booting up, it will show a message saying "Press (key) to Enter Setup" (*Note, the key will vary depending on the computer, but is often F1, F2 or delete). The BIOS can be entered by hitting that key. You must hit the key as soon as the message appears, or your computer will continue to boot normally.

 

Selkie can run on any computer using a Pentium or compatible processor. These include AMD processors such as the Athlon and Duron, and others such as the Cyrix series of chips. Note: At this time Selkie does not support Macintosh computers.

 

Running Selkie Freedom

The Start-up process

When Selkie starts, you will see the logo screen. Wait five seconds as Selkie continues the start-up process.

 

Selkie is the default start-up option. But in some cases the default option encounters problems. If Selkie fails to take you to the welcome box, and instead shows error messages or reboots your computer, try the options below.

 

debug
Similar to the default option. However, debug causes system messages to appear on your screen. This can be useful for technically proficient operators, or as an amusing (and confusing) diversion while you wait for Selkie to launch;

 

failsafe
Disables hardware normally activated when Selkie starts up. Selkie may fail on some computers which use power management features; selecting failsafe disables power management features and permits the boot;

 

failsafe32
Similar to the failsafe option, but failsafe32 restricts Selkie's memory use to 32 megabytes. This is useful when you suspect your computer’s memory has bad spots; if the first 32 megabytes are usable, Selkie will function. (Selkie can operate on as little as 16 megabytes of memory.)

 

Tip: Some computers have trouble displaying Selkie’s logo. If you don’t see the logo, or you see a large empty white space where the logo should be, this is not a serious problem. Selkie will continue to function properly.

 

The Welcome Screen

 

When you see the welcome screen to the left, Selkie has launched on your computer. Here you must input a username, which must be at least 4 characters long. This is the name you will find on the folder your files are recovered to at the end of the recovery process. Remember, your mouse will not work with Selkie; you must use the arrow and tab keys to navigate around the screens, and the enter key to select.

 

 

 

Selecting Devices to Retrieve Data from

Selkie will list the devices on your computer and give you the option to recover data from any or all of those devices. The default drive partition is usually C: Drive, which usually contains all of the Windows Operating System files required for operation of the computer. On many modern personal computers only one hard drive with one partition is present so it is designated C:.

 

In the sidebar on the left side of the screen Selkie will give you information about each of your devices, as you select them in the main screen area. Here you can see the type of file system, the total size of the device, and how much of the space on the device is currently occupied.

 

 

Selecting your priority level

You are now ready to experience Selkie's Smart File Finder! The Smart File Finder ranks your files in order of importance so that it's easy to find your most valuable files, whether they be word documents, emails, photos, music or other files. You choose which types of files you want to recover based on priority levels.

 

You have two choices at this stage; you can select your priority level now, or you can select your priority level after Selkie generates the list of files on your computer.

 

Tip: Selkie has default settings to identify the importance of file types.

 

Selecting your priority level now
The fastest way to recover your files is to refer to the help documents for details about the types of files each priority level allows you to recover and select your priority level now. If you leave the priority setting at default, all the files from levels 7, 8, and 9 will be recovered. See below for Priority Level Details. Selecting your priority level later
When you select the priority level after generating the file list, you can get more detail about which files you are recovering. Use this option if you have more time, and are interested in the details.

 

Priority Level Details
Selkie Freedom categorizes your files according to their likely degree of importance. When you choose a level, Selkie recovers all files above that level as well as files at that level. So if you select level 7, Selkie will recover files from level 9, level 8, and level 7.

 

Level 9: Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations
At this level, your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from Microsoft Office and OpenOffice will be recovered. Also, the contents of any folder with the word “tax” in it will be recovered.

 

Level 8: Address Books and Contacts
Here, in addition to all files in level 9, you will recover your e-mail contact list or address book.

 

Level 7: E-mail
When you choose this level, your e-mail will be recovered along with higher-level files.

 

Level 6: Favorites or Bookmarks, and Unknown File Types
At this level you will recover your browser favorites or (in the case of Firefox and Opera) your bookmarks. Note that unknown file types are included at this level, so if you use an esoteric application with its own file type, you will get your files back by choosing this level.

 

Level 5: Web content
If you have content for your own web site or web sites on your computer, selecting this level ensures it will be recovered. This will not include temporary internet files or files stored by your browser as part of its normal operation; only web files such as HTML files stored outside of system locations such as the Windows or Temporary Internet Files folders will be recovered.

 

Level 4: Photos
Choosing this level will allow you to recover your photographs. Selkie will retrieve files found in your “My Pictures” folder, along with other typical locations where photography or digital-camera software stores these files.

 

Level 3: Music and Playlists
At this level your music collection along with playlists will be retrieved.

 

Level 2: Video Files
At this level, your recovery will include video clips and DVD files.

 

Level 1: Executables, Fonts, and Compressed Files
Here you will recover , executable (program) files found outside of the Windows system folder or the Program Files folder. So if you have an installer application such as an antivirus application, selecting this level ensures that you can retrieve the installer. This level also includes compressed files of most types including zip, rar, and tar.gz, and fonts found outside the Windows font folder.

 

Level 0: System Files
It is safe to exclude level 0 from your recovery, as this is the level at which system files such as those found in the Windows folder or in Program Files will be retrieved. You cannot use these files to install applications – to do this you must use your original installation CDs or downloaded installation packages.

 

Generating the file list

Generating the list of the files on your computer may take some time, depending on the number of files on your computer. Please be patient.

If you pre-selected the priority level, your computer will go directly from generating the file list to recovering your files.

If you chose to generate the file list before selecting your priority level, your computer will go from generating the list to a screen that asks you to select your priority level. Once you choose the priority level, file recovery will begin.

 

 

 

Recovering Files

Selkie is now recovering your files to the USB key. This is completely automated and will continue until your files are recovered to your username folder on the USB key. Depending on the number of files on your computer, this may take several minutes. Please be patient.

 

If your USB key does not have enough space on it to copy the files from the priority levels you selected, you will be taken to a screen with details about each level and the amount of data stored in each level. At this point you can make a new priority level selection to suit the space available to you. If your USB key does not have enough space to copy even the files in the highest level (9), Selkie will copy as many files as possible from level 9.

 

If a file cannot be recovered (due to file corruption) after 3 attempts it will be listed in an error message in the recovery log listed at the completion of Selkie Freedom.

 

Finding your files on the USB Key

Upon completion of the recovery, you will be at a screen that shows a report of any warnings or errors (if there are any). The recovery is finished and you will be able to find your data on the USB key in the (username)/backup folder.

 

At this point, selecting Quit will give you the choice of rebooting or shutdown your computer.

 

Possible Issues

All issues will be reported as warnings in Selkie Freedom's recovery log on the last screen.

 

Files with unrecognized characters in their names Files will be recovered to the same folder structure as they were previously; however, any characters that were unrecognized will be replaced with a “_” character.
Filenames containing 256 characters or more Files will have their filenames truncated, to 255 characters and be stored in a folder called “Path” in your username/backup folder.
Troubles with copying to a folder path Files will be stored in a folder called “Path” in your username/backup folder.

 

Finding Your Files after Recovery

You will find your files on the USB memory key in the selkie.bak.876 folder, under your user name. So if you saved your files using the name “Thomas”, look in “selkie.bak.876\thomas\backup\mnt”. In this folder you will find your hard-drive partitions listed in this format:

 

hda1
hdb1
sda3

 

Within these you will find your data, in the file and folder format you are familiar with.

 

If you are unsure how to recover your files back into your application (for example, how to put your e-mail back where it belongs) consult your e-mail software company for this information.