In ,
TheScullster typed:
"Twayne" typed:


Hi all

Sorry guys I was given some duff info yesterday!
I now have the PC (Packard Bell) available and on start
up the actual error messages a

Verifying DMI Pool Data ................
BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart

Has a Win XP logo on front.

So the question is pretty much the same:

Should I be able to access the data from Ubuntu CD boot?

Also, I have used the terminal "force" commands to gain
access to a laptop drive previously.
But I know very little about Linux software and possible
corruption of data. Can using these force commands to
enable disk access actually cause data corruption?
The PC I'm looking at has valuable family pics on
apparently and I certainly don't want to risk rendering
the disk unrecoverable.
Thanks

Phil

Since there hasn't been a direct response to the
question of a live 'nix CD, YES, you should be able to
access the data on the hard drive. I don't know what
"force" commands refers to; that's a new one to me. Can you boot to Safe
Mode? If so, then you can run
Start; Programs; Accessories; System Tools; System
Information and that will tell you what the OS is and
its SP status too and much more. Another tool called SIW
(Google for it) is a super-System Information program
with a lot more data about the machine in its output. Paul has given you
an excellent treatise IMO on the
overall system and it's pretty thorough from the aspect
of how to prevent damaging the disk, backing it up first
before any work is done to recover anything, and so
forth. By backing it up, you can at least always go back
to the original problem and start over again if you have
to. I'd recommend backing up to DVDs or better yet
another HD (external type) just so nothing can
accidentally happen to the original data, which can then
be considered a control point. Assuming there are multiple hard drives,
it might be
easiest to just pop in a bootable hard drive with any
windows OS on it and set to Master if it's an IDE
system, and set the other HD as a slave if it's an IDE
system. SATA drives are easier; see the docs to see
which cable is for the boot disk or simply trace it
down visually. Then boot from the replaced bootable HD
and use that to look at the other drives, logical or physical, to see if
you can get
hold of the photos you need. Unless you have a hardware
problem, this should work. If no joy, then read Paul's
information carefully and give it a go. The most
important thing is to create the backup immediately and
never allow that backup to be changed in any way. I
usually put them to DVDs just so they cannot be
compromised by mistake. Let us know how it comes out in the end, OK?

Twayne`



Thanks Twayne

I have a 500Gb Hitachi USB drive available.
Will this connect OK to the Ubuntu session and allow
copying of files off the HD?
I have successfully copied to a 2Gb flash drive, but some
of the video files are large and there's lots of them.

ISTR some of these external USB drives need to install
software to make their entire capacity writable.
I just attached the drive to my Windoze PC and it seemed
to be "found" without any special measures/installation.

Thanks

Phil

That's the normal procedure for windows; just plug the drive in and it's
recognized and you're in business, especally if it's a preformatted drive as
many are these days. If you don't get the full capacity of around 460 Gig
for a 500 Gig drive, that would be a need to update/flash the BIOS or simply
turn on the LBA mode if it exists n the BIOS settings.
But even if you did have to format it (because say it's formatted FAT
instead of NTFS), that's easy to do. Sounds to me like you're all set.

HTH,

Twayne`