Anyone know much about Linux?

[hanselthecaretaker]

I'm running Knoppix 3.9 on a pc through a boot disc trying to get files off the HDD, which has XP Media Center installed on it. The "my documents", "my music" etc. folders are nowhere to be found, and there are two separate partitions for the HDD (one probably is for recovery) but the other one looks normal enough, except it's just harder to navigate because of the menu system/ GUI.

Anyone familiar with this?

 

[digger]

3.9 is 'way old, bro. Current is 5 something. (Let me check... yeah, it's up to 5.3.1) Don't know if one that old has the ability to mount NTFS partitions without making a side trip through Nerd Hell.

Get a more currrent copy and it'll work without any of that.

 

[mountain muscle]

Linux are great cars!

and stuff.

 

[Raptorex]

they are beautiful animals, i love them

 

[Smurfy]

3.9 is 'way old, bro. Current is 5 something. (Let me check... yeah, it's up to 5.3.1) Don't know if one that old has the ability to mount NTFS partitions without making a side trip through Nerd Hell.

Get a more currrent copy and it'll work without any of that.

right on the $, digger/

 

[Raptorex]

right on the $, digger/

your such a kiss ass

 

[stilleto]

i think he was lucy's brother.

 

[SpyWizard]

3.9 is 'way old, bro. Current is 5 something. (Let me check... yeah, it's up to 5.3.1) Don't know if one that old has the ability to mount NTFS partitions without making a side trip through Nerd Hell.

Get a more currrent copy and it'll work without any of that.

bang, look at the correct answer here..

there is a version out there that will load on a usb, and boot just like the optical drive, the admin password can be reset this way too.. but like digger said, get a current/new version..

 

[Smurfy]

your such a kiss ass

wtf he gave the perfect answer!

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

3.9 is 'way old, bro. Current is 5 something. (Let me check... yeah, it's up to 5.3.1) Don't know if one that old has the ability to mount NTFS partitions without making a side trip through Nerd Hell.

Get a more currrent copy and it'll work without any of that.

What's strange is I was able to mount both sda partitions with version 3.9 when I first used it, but then I shut down the pc because it froze up and the next time I tried it said it was unable to mount it (sda2) and gave an error. I dl'd version 5.1.1 and no difference. I was still able to mount sda1 with the system files but not the sda2 which has the program files, my documents, etc.
I also just looked at that partitions in Windows setup and they're weird, like not even detecting an XP installation at all.
On the 250 gig drive, one partition is labeled drive "H" in a fat32 format at roughly 1.9 gigs. Wasn't able to install XP there.
Another drive is labeled "-" (EISA partition) at about 7 gigs. Not able to install XP there either.
The last partition is for drive C and labeled "unknown" and isn't even formatted for XP. That's 230 gigs and change.
I'm wondering where the hell her installation of XP Media Center even is on this HDD, because I was going to do an install on that same partition but in a new folder so I could regenerate the system files and replace the damaged ones, then delete that temporary install, avoiding the need to reformat the HDD.

Is there any other way to get files off the HDD? I'm using an OEM version of XP on my rig and I tried hooking it up to mine but Windows just wanted to reformat, couldn't open it. Some sectors were reported as being damaged/corrupt as well.

Suspect files are:
ntoskrnl.exe
hal.dll
KDCOM.DLL
BOOTVID.dll

I'm gonna try Freespire 2.0 as its GUI is similar to Windows.

 

[digger]

Oh, man, sounds like the partition table might be borked. Does this have something to do with why you're not just booting the damn thing into Windows as-is?

If Windows itself can't make any sense out of the file system, a guest operating system is going to be limited as well (I've used Knoppix to rescue files from a Windows box that won't BOOT, but once the partition table eats itself, things go downhill quickly.)

A local uber-nerd might be able to repair the partition table, but without a real good idea of what it looked like originally he'd be fumbling in the dark.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Oh, man, sounds like the partition table might be borked. Does this have something to do with why you're not just booting the damn thing into Windows as-is?

If Windows itself can't make any sense out of the file system, a guest operating system is going to be limited as well (I've used Knoppix to rescue files from a Windows box that won't BOOT, but once the partition table eats itself, things go downhill quickly.)

A local uber-nerd might be able to repair the partition table, but without a real good idea of what it looked like originally he'd be fumbling in the dark.

Damn it sounds bad. Yeah the original error when trying to boot Windows normally was a black screen and this:
"Windows could not start because of an error in the software please report this problem as :load needed dlls of kernel"

but I've also gotten this one:
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll"

I've also gotten an "error 106" when trying to boot from a burned copy of recovery discs but no idea what's on those or if they were even true boot discs that can run without Windows drivers.

Freespire didn't work, but I'm gonna give Knoppix 5.3.1 a try yet.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I wish I could install Knoppix it's fuckin great.

 

[digger]

I wish I could install Knoppix it's fuckin great.

You can. It's called "Debian."

Seriously, Knoppix has an "install to HD" option.

 

[Dial_tone]

Ubuntu is your savior.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

You can. It's called "Debian."

Seriously, Knoppix has an "install to HD" option.

What about safely being able to write to NTFS formats? I've read past versions were known to corrupt. If that's not the case anymore then Knoppix here I come.

 

[digger]

From what I hear, the current NTFS support is as reliable as Windows'. They've got native Linux code that is pretty solid, and if you don't trust that, there is another approach that actually finds and uses your Windows NTFS drivers.

Did the new Knoppix find your stuff okay? If so, glad to hear it.

That said -- I'd back that crap up ASAP and put it back onto a drive that has had a fresh format. What makes you want to keep it NTFS format if you're going to be running Knoppix as your native OS? Are you looking to dual-boot?

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

From what I hear, the current NTFS support is as reliable as Windows'. They've got native Linux code that is pretty solid, and if you don't trust that, there is another approach that actually finds and uses your Windows NTFS drivers.

Did the new Knoppix find your stuff okay? If so, glad to hear it.

That said -- I'd back that crap up ASAP and put it back onto a drive that has had a fresh format. What makes you want to keep it NTFS format if you're going to be running Knoppix as your native OS? Are you looking to dual-boot?

It was a ladyfriend of mine's pc and yes I recommended getting a HDD for storage. Knoppix 5.3.1 didn't recognize the format of the drive but I dl'd a data recovery app that did and just copied the stuff over and burned it. There were a few damaged sectors on the drive (which has an EISA, FAT32 and an unknown NFTS format, probably why Knoppix didn't recognize it), oh well, Sony Vaio has a recovery wizard in BIOS I think that will revert the pc back to "delivery" status so I'll do that tonight.

As for my own rig, I'm getting another 500 gig drive for storage, but I'll probably dual boot Knoppix (Debian) on my current one with XP/apps. That is NFTS.