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I have a lot of important documents on my computer, and I guess I messed up my OS somehow because when I rebooted the computer, it took me to a console window with no GUI. I typed "startx", and it spat out a "no such file or directory" error: my favorite. I needed to copy the files to my USB drive, which I formatted to FAT32. I typed the command "lsblk" to list all the drives on my computer, and I see my USB drive listed. It just has no name. I'm a total idiot when it comes to anything Linux. I only know the basics. I named my USB drive "USB" in Windows, but when I type "cd /USB" on Linux, it spits out another "no such file or directory" error. I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong. It's really frustrating that I know my file is on my hard disk. I just can't figure out for the life of me how to copy it to my USB drive on Linux. I know how to do it on Windows but not on Linux.

I'm running Peppermint OS (which makes things worse since it's apparently obscure, and there are almost no tutorials on it, and the tutorials there are are way outdated).

That's all the information I have. Please be easy on me if I did a terrible job explaining my problem. I am Linux stupid.

Pinky_the_bat
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Presumably, you have atleast one other machine available (where you accessed unix.stackexchange.com over a web-browser) in working condition.

Wording in the Question indicates that there is no quick & easy way we can help you with Linux commands, due to your inexperience.

In case (1A) you formatted your existing Partition which was containing the important documents or (1B) you installed Peppermint OS (odd choice for a Linux Newbie !) on top of your existing Partition which was containing the important documents, or (1C) the Drive has crashed, then the situation is hopeless.

In case (2) the Drive is still working and Partition is still there, you should disconnect that Drive, connect to your working machine (or some other windows machine) and retrieve the important documents.

Prem
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  • Oh, I'm sorry. It's a little late now. I already formatted my Peppermint OS installation and supplanted it with Linux Mint, which I think is better anyways. The reason this even happened in the first place was because I was messing with the dependencies, and I muffed it up. Thank you for your help anyways. I appreciate it. – Pinky_the_bat May 23 '22 at 20:15