Stuck without Bios Supervisor Password while replacing laptop HD with Ubuntu HD

[216ann]

Honestly, what I really would like is to reliably get all the data off the 7200 HD and have the new Toshiba format the drive.
But I am confused as to how I can do that without some USB SATA adapter or how the Toshiba without an OS would be able to format its 7200HD with Ubuntu 20.
Is there a way that a windows OS HD can repair the 7200 HD?

[CelticWarrior]

The point here for both retrieving the data out of the HDD and eventually format and install Ubuntu is to boot a live session.

[216ann]

The point here for both retrieving the data out of the HDD and eventually format and install Ubuntu is to boot a live session.

Correct, which is why I have tried to boot with the USB over and over again.
Was able to finally have the Bios boot off the USB but it results in the GRUB recovery error with missing initramfs file.
Have not been able to find a solution for that.
The one and only time I was able to boot off the USB (by accident it seems), I was not able to copy all the files because apparently I didn't have root access to the 7200 HD.
I know the password for the root for the 7200HD but I have not been able to get to a point where, using the live ubuntu 20 USB, that I can put in the root password for the 7200HD for access.
So currently I have two stumbling blocks.
BTW, I have also considered the possibility that if I were to get a hold of an older laptop which may already be on legacy/AHCI settings and successfully boot off the 7200HD as well as copy all the data, I could wipe the drive and start afresh. But that doesn't solve the issue of getting this more recent Toshiba laptop to format the 7200HD drive because the USB doesn't work.
Is there an ability to get an Ubuntu USB to be formatted so it is recognized by UEFI? & not be AHCI??? please let me know, thanks

[CelticWarrior]

Redo the USB. Very likely it became corrupt after those attempts. If doing it in Windows prefer tools like Balena Etcher because it's fool-proof and the resulting media boots in BIOS or UEFI mode. AHCI has nothing to mdo with booting a live session / installer.

In alive session you may need to chown the folders you want to backup. If the partition/drive is encrypted then it's a whole different can of worms.
Yes, of course it's preferable to boot it where it was installed and then backup. Any reason why aren't you doing that?

[216ann]

Redo the USB. Very likely it became corrupt after those attempts. If doing it in Windows prefer tools like Balena Etcher because it's fool-proof and the resulting media boots in BIOS or UEFI mode. AHCI has nothing to mdo with booting a live session / installer.

Thanks will do that. I was using Rufus.

In alive session you may need to chown the folders you want to backup. If the partition/drive is encrypted then it's a whole different can of worms.
Yes, of course it's preferable to boot it where it was installed and then backup. Any reason why aren't you doing that?

I am not sure how to chown folders in another drive...I am a noob. I can chown in the live USB.
I also do think that the 7200HD is encrypted because I needed to put in a password first to access the 7200HD and then use yet another password to access sudo/root.
I don't have access to the old computer anyway and need to borrow someone else's.
It also doesn't solve the issue of Ubuntu being unable to be run on that 7200HD in the more recent, better Toshiba computer.
If I were to do things this way, is there a way to use the USB to create a drive that would be compatible even if not on legacy or AHCI (a Ubuntu that would be usable in the default BIOS settings of the Toshiba)?
Thanks again for all the help.

[yancek]

I am not sure how to chown folders in another drive.

You need to first know the complete path to where the partition on the drive you want to use the chown command exists. Using Ubuntu, this will generally be under /media/username and on a 'live' usb the username is ubuntu so: /media/ubuntu. The various partitions there will probably show by UUID. In order to make any changes you need root permissions so any chown command would need to be preceded by sudo.

I can chown in the live USB.

A 'live' usb in this context is a readonly filesystem and any changes you make will be lost on reboot unless you have a persistent install.

If your intention is to access data and copy it to another location, you generally do not need root/sudo to copy FROM but may need it to copy TO, depending upon where you want to copy to. If the device partitions are encrypted that adds another layer of complexity to the problem.

[216ann]

You need to first know the complete path to where the partition on the drive you want to use the chown command exists. Using Ubuntu, this will generally be under /media/username and on a 'live' usb the username is ubuntu so: /media/ubuntu. The various partitions there will probably show by UUID. In order to make any changes you need root permissions so any chown command would need to be preceded by sudo.

I am a noob and a little confused as to whether I need to mount or unmount first. And how to do that.
Then if I use the chown using the /media/username I get this, not a file error.
I tried gksu nautilus cmd suggested by this video youtube.com/watch?v=gtvt2MjeCeg
But that did not work.
Essentially, what I want is to boot off the live USB, use terminal or the GUI to go to my boot drive (which can't boot but is Ubuntu 20), and save all the files off that.
All the right click permissions are greyed out.
I tried askubuntu.com/questions/527304/how-to-change-permission-of-a-drive-in-an-external-hard-disk
but I guess I did it wrong. I am getting confused as to what I would put as username for each drive and whether the password I put in would be for the live USB or for the 7200HD
would this be better? sudo chmod -R 777 /media/username/nameofdrive

A 'live' usb in this context is a readonly filesystem and any changes you make will be lost on reboot unless you have a persistent install.

If your intention is to access data and copy it to another location, you generally do not need root/sudo to copy FROM but may need it to copy TO, depending upon where you want to copy to. If the device partitions are encrypted that adds another layer of complexity to the problem.

I am getting problems copying the 7200HD files to an external HD that I connect (ie, I am using the live USB to boot, then that OS to access the 7200HD to try to copy files to yet another external HD).
This is not working because it claims I don't have permissions but never gives me a prompt to put in the 7200HD's password.
So I guess it is encrypted.
Thanks for all the help.