PC Laptop - want to salvage files

[InTheSand]

Hi,

A few others to look at are -

RIP Linux (RIP = recovery is possible) - has support for NTFS, FAT, FAT32, etc: http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip

SystemRescueCD - also has support for NTFS and FAT, as well as USB drives: http://www.sysresccd.org

BG-Rescue Linux (only 2Mb!) - minimal Linux system with useful tools: http://omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~giannone/rescue/current


Although SystemRescueCD is old, I'd be inclined to use this to start with as you can boot from the CD, plug in a USB key/drive, then use the included "PartImage" to make a copy of the hard drive partition where you can then transfer it elsewhere to attempt data recovery.

Given you've stated that the laptop now boots into part of Windows 98's setup, that means the drive is now FAT or FAT32, so if the drive has accidentally been reformatted from NTFS, the free tools may not be able to salvage anything...


As Orange states above, I'd also avoid anything at this stage that makes any changes to the hard drive's configuration or data content.


It might also be worth taking a look at commercial data recovery applications (e.g. http://diskinternals.com/ntfs-recovery) but I don't know how successful these are.


Ultimately, and depending on the value of the data / photos, etc, you will probably be able to send the drive off to a data recovery specialist but expect to pay lots if you do.


Good luck!

 - Ali

[amigakit]

@X-RAY

Here's the 2.5" TO 3.5" IDE hard disk adapter: http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=68

It will work on the PC too.

[Cyberus]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41993&item=5795136122&rd=1

Loads of them on eBay, with a start price of a penny

[X-ray]

@ All

I tried messing about with manual mounting on Featherlinux and I got permission denied. Basically I gotta know my limitations, and I am really not the one to be trying to manually mount stuff via Linux (which I don't know from a bar of soap) on a strange laptop (which I do know from a bar of soap, but cannot comment much further  ;-))
So I tried Dyne:bolic and I found out a few things about this bird's laptop.
Firstly it hasn't been wiped, in fact I think everything is still there. All the pictures and documents are in the My Documents folder within her user folder. Secondly there are some programs like Photoshop and a few printer utilities in the Programs folder, so it looks promising that all the files are there. I mean, it is spartan compared to what I expected to find, but maybe she has a spartan binary lifestyle.
Next step: see if my external USB drive is recognised -----> Yes. Okay, that's good but now there is a problem. The laptop drive is NTFS (one partition) and my external USB drive is also NTFS. So no write with Dyne:bolic is possible. I can't change the external drive because it is an 80gb drive with about 70gb of encrypted folders on it (these are root encrypted and DESLock doesn't let you copy or move those otherwise I could dump them on my desktop SATA raid pair, which still has about 340gb free). I would have to decrypt it all and save it over and then reformat to FAT32..nah not going to.
So, I am stuck with NTFS. I tried SystemRescueCD and it loads successfully into a console...no good for me because I'll need a gui to select files to copy. I don't even know where they all are: I am going to be browsing around like a schoolkid in a library.
So, I am very close to helping this poor woman out, but I am now in search of an NTFS-writable gui that boots from CD. I'm trying some of the other suggestions...I can't write the RIP .bin so I am looking for alternatives.
Thanks for the great advice dudes, I am learning something here. I have kept that little Feather Linux CD because it so cool...who would have thought you could boot off a small CD and go online, easy as that?

[bloodline]

I aways have a FAT32 partition on my drives as NTFS is totally unportable.

[skabby]

AmigaEd wrote:
I've found that I have better luck burning ISO images with Alcohol 120% instead of Nero. I don't know why this is, but it just is.

Also, try burning with lower speeds, 2x or something, older cd-drives dont like high-speed burned cd's...

just my 2c... good luck.

[X-ray]

If NTFS is a no go then all I can do is give the laptop back with the Dyne:bolic CD and tell the girl to get a 1gb USB pendrive and shuttle the files to another computer. If she wants the files badly enough she will have to do it, otherwise it is end of the line for this recovery.

Edit: I cannot get the drive out of this unit and upon closer inspection of this laptop I think it is best I don't jerk around with taking things out. If something goes wrong, I'll have to pay for it.

[Darklight]

Hmm, just been thinking about your problem, and rather than trying to back stuff up to a USB hard drive or something, wouldn't it be possible to just hook it up with one of your computers via a crossover network cable, or even plug it into a switch, and copy all the files you need to onto your computer and burn them onto a cd or DVD?  I'm assuming that if you used FeatherLinux or if you got Knoppix working (I don't know anything about Dyne:bolic), you should be able to get networking going, and you wouldn't have to worry about trying to write to an NTFS partition.  Hopefully that's of some help.

EDIT - It appears Dyne:bolic has some sort of network support, so maybe give that a try?

[countzero]

X-ray wrote:
I tried messing about with manual mounting on Featherlinux and I got permission denied.

ah, you should become root to do that. with the su command. sorry I forgot to tell you. Anyway, if you want to write to a NTFS drive, then feather won't help you. I thought there was some experimental NTFS writing support in the new linux kernel, but it's little bit dangerous to use these stuff before they get stable. maybe you should try that bart's bootable windoze ?

[Cyberus]

Also, perhaps if there was support for writing to NTFS partitions with linux, Microsoft would jump on the distro and try to kill it, as NTFS is © Microsoft

:-?

[Waccoon]

I wouldn't bother with Linux (as I've tried over a dozen distros myself and didn't like any of them).  An external hard drive enclosure is probably your best bet.  Trust me, once you get one, you'll use it all the time for backing up your own stuff.  :-)

AmigaEd:   I've found that I have better luck burning ISO images with Alcohol 120% instead of Nero.

I've heard Nero 6 has a lot of problems with certain burners that Nero 5 didn't have, especially when burning towards the end (outer rim) of the disc.

Cyberus:   Also, perhaps if there was support for writing to NTFS partitions with linux, Microsoft would jump on the distro and try to kill it, as NTFS is © Microsoft

NTFS works like a database and writes multiple pieces of data for each access.  It's far too complicated (and risky) to reverse-engineer something like that, so I believe the mere technical issues trump the legal issues, anyway.

[X-ray]

@ All

I think I'll stop trying the Linux for now (the pen drive is an option for the girl to consider if nothing else works) and I'll try Countzero's suggestion of Bart's Boot CD. I'm getting the lady's orignal XP CD and I'll see what PE Builder can do.

Thanks for all the help...I have gone far enough with this laptop.

[doctorq]

@X-Ray

Sorry, but I'm too lazy to read all the thread at this point, and judging from your latest answer I take it you haven't tried my option.

As my laptop has just died (power connector broke) I have to salvage the data from the disk as well, so it is pretty much the same we need to do.

I ordered such an adaptor as already linked to in this post, attached the harddrive to my Amiga 4000 IDE controller, booted the computer as usual. Downloaded fat95 from aminet, installed, edited the mountlist as described in the read me file and mounted the device. Well, what do you know? The harddrive popped up in Workbench, so I'm copying data as we speek.

I doubt that you will have any problems accesing the data on the disk, even though you need a password to access it when using a PC. Just copy all files to your Amiga harddrive, burn the needed files and ditch the rest. Just remember to use a file handling program that can handle large names, like Opus 5 can.

[X-ray]

@ DoctorQ

I can't take the laptop drive out, and if I could I would not bring it near my Miggy as it is NTFS. Also the Miggy drives aren't big enough. I would dump it on my PC (has a lot of space). But I'm not removing it, not taking the chance. I guess if it was my data and I was desperate for it, I would try a few more daring things, but it's not my laptop and I'm being cautious.

[doctorq]

Fair enough. Luckyly enough for me I formatted the harddrive as FAT, and since the laptop is the only PC in the house, I figured I could do no harm to the harddrive anyway...

[leofoe]

I think the BartPE CD is the best option. I always use the Reatogo Xpe, which is ready in no time.
Boot from it and copy all your files with the explorer from the broken PC (NTFS or whatever) to an USB-drive. To have this USB-drive get a letter assigned, use the diskmgmt.msc which is already on the CD.