Kubuntu won't boot

[rikona]

New box running Kubuntu 20.04. Has run well for a while, but now won't
boot. This is the first time I tried a boot since the original bootup,
which worked well.

Since it had been running a while with no updates, I decided to update
the box. I usually save/close everything, shut down, restart to clear
any leftovers, shut down again, restart and then do the the update. But
after shutting down the box [first time ever] it would not boot up. I
can get the ASUS MB boot screen, but that stays there forever.

By changing the boot order I was able to do a "try it" boot from a
Kubuntu CD, and I can see all the disks [within permission limits]. So
far this runs OK as well, but I can't run the many pgms I had set up on
the box, and likely not enough space to do that either [indexed search
pgm is massive]. 

I never did a backup, since it was running so well, so that is the FIRST
thing I need to do but can't figure out how to get around the permission
problems. I have a few TB of data, on multiple disks, so a large backup
is needed.  I normally use grsync, but it is refusing re  permissions -
can I get that to back up all the disks WITHOUT the permission problems,
or do I have to wait until the box is running normally to get
everything? Is there a better way to fix permissions and back up
everything now? 

Then, AFTER the backup, I need to get it to boot. I see many reasons and
fixes for boot problems but given the above it's not clear what the best
approach would be. I modified the original Kub install extensively, and
installed many pgms - I'd very much like to be able to get back to this,
and not do the [clean] reinstall suggested in several places, which
loses a lot and sometimes everything. 

All suggestions much appreciated... [even the "don't bother me" ones]
:-) 

Rik
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