yes my default position was to do a transfer in the event that i could not
access my drive data any other way. but i would like to get my current drive
up and running again. i did a diagnostic on my current drive (western
digital) and it found no physical errors, so the plot thickens. any other
ideas regarding a solution?

***

i learned the hard way that an oem o/s has no recovery/repair option.
because of this, i would rather delete the crap in a hidden partition, than
not have the option of recovery/repair. this whole affair has been
frustrating and stupid.

thanks for your ideas.