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NTLDR is Missing - Linux Boot Possible?



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 14th 11, 04:26 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
TheScullster
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Posts: 79
Default NTLDR is Missing - Linux Boot Possible?

Hi all

My colleague just came to ask about recovering his home PC.
As the subject really, he is getting the "ntldr is missing" error and I
wondered whether it would be possible to boot off a Ubuntu CD to recover
data to a memory stick.
Does the ntldr error suggest that info is missing from the drive which would
stop the Ubuntu method of data recovery?

Thanks

Phil


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  #2  
Old June 14th 11, 05:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Adrian C[_2_]
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Posts: 94
Default NTLDR is Missing - Linux Boot Possible?

On 14/06/2011 16:26, TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

My colleague just came to ask about recovering his home PC.
As the subject really, he is getting the "ntldr is missing" error and I
wondered whether it would be possible to boot off a Ubuntu CD to recover
data to a memory stick.
Does the ntldr error suggest that info is missing from the drive which would
stop the Ubuntu method of data recovery?


Before getting too involved, the error message often highlights he has
left either an 'old school' floppy disk left in the drive, or a
removable USB device; memory stick/card or some other storage device
which the machine is attempting to boot from, instead of the hard drive.

If not, then yeah shouldn't be an issue booting from a Linux Boot CD and
getting at that drive's data.

--
Adrian C






  #3  
Old June 14th 11, 05:18 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
BillW50
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Posts: 5,556
Default NTLDR is Missing - Linux Boot Possible?

TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

My colleague just came to ask about recovering his home PC.
As the subject really, he is getting the "ntldr is missing" error and I
wondered whether it would be possible to boot off a Ubuntu CD to recover
data to a memory stick.
Does the ntldr error suggest that info is missing from the drive which would
stop the Ubuntu method of data recovery?

Thanks

Phil


That error usually means that boot.ini is corrupt or missing. A corrupt
MBR I believe can cause it too. This problem is generally very easy to
fix. Windows Recovery Console and running FIXMBR and FIXBOOT normally
gets Windows running once again.

And no, you shouldn't have any problems reading the drive from another
OS. Unless the drive itself is failing, which could be possible with
what you told us so far.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 702G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Xandros Linux (build 2007-10-19 13:03)
  #4  
Old June 14th 11, 05:41 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default NTLDR is Missing - Linux Boot Possible?

TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

My colleague just came to ask about recovering his home PC.
As the subject really, he is getting the "ntldr is missing" error and I
wondered whether it would be possible to boot off a Ubuntu CD to recover
data to a memory stick.
Does the ntldr error suggest that info is missing from the drive which would
stop the Ubuntu method of data recovery?

Thanks

Phil



With Ubuntu, you may have a copy of TestDisk on there. If the MBR
(sector 0) was totally erased, TestDisk can scan for partitions, and
re-create the MBR (minus boot code). So at the very least,
you'd have tools available to take a shot at recovery. Once a
partition table is in place, if you're lazy, you'd reboot and
let Ubuntu discover the new partitions that now exist.

You can get more info on TestDisk here (if the machine really is
broken). If it's just the "floppy thing", the solution might be
very quick, and Ubuntu might not be needed at all.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

To determine what is in a partition, you can also use
Synaptic Package Manager, go to the Repository setup,
tick all five boxes, click the reload button, then
after about 3 minutes of downloads, type "disktype" into
the Search box. The "disktype" program can look at a
partition, and tell you what type it is (whether it
was FAT32, NTFS, EXT2 or whatever). It checks key areas
of the partition, to tell what it is.

disktype /dev/hda3

That would test the third partition, to see what file
system is on there. So that's another way to determine
what the file system used to be. You can even use that
on a CD or DVD, to determine the formatting.

http://disktype.sourceforge.net/

And if you slave that drive to a working Windows computer, you can
use this freebee, to try to recover files. One poster claims
to have used this on an NTFS partition, and got their data
back. One of the many $39.95 data recovery programs, can do
that too.

http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/Wou...rescue19d.html

Paul
  #5  
Old June 15th 11, 08:45 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
TheScullster
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 79
Default NTLDR is Missing - Linux Boot Possible?


"Paul" wrote

Hi all

My colleague just came to ask about recovering his home PC.
As the subject really, he is getting the "ntldr is missing" error and I
wondered whether it would be possible to boot off a Ubuntu CD to recover
data to a memory stick.
Does the ntldr error suggest that info is missing from the drive which
would stop the Ubuntu method of data recovery?

Thanks

Phil


With Ubuntu, you may have a copy of TestDisk on there. If the MBR
(sector 0) was totally erased, TestDisk can scan for partitions, and
re-create the MBR (minus boot code). So at the very least,
you'd have tools available to take a shot at recovery. Once a
partition table is in place, if you're lazy, you'd reboot and
let Ubuntu discover the new partitions that now exist.

You can get more info on TestDisk here (if the machine really is
broken). If it's just the "floppy thing", the solution might be
very quick, and Ubuntu might not be needed at all.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

To determine what is in a partition, you can also use
Synaptic Package Manager, go to the Repository setup,
tick all five boxes, click the reload button, then
after about 3 minutes of downloads, type "disktype" into
the Search box. The "disktype" program can look at a
partition, and tell you what type it is (whether it
was FAT32, NTFS, EXT2 or whatever). It checks key areas
of the partition, to tell what it is.

disktype /dev/hda3

That would test the third partition, to see what file
system is on there. So that's another way to determine
what the file system used to be. You can even use that
on a CD or DVD, to determine the formatting.

http://disktype.sourceforge.net/

And if you slave that drive to a working Windows computer, you can
use this freebee, to try to recover files. One poster claims
to have used this on an NTFS partition, and got their data
back. One of the many $39.95 data recovery programs, can do
that too.

http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/Wou...rescue19d.html

Paul



Thanks to all respondents.
Unfortunately I was given some duff info yesterday and the error relates to
BOOTMGR not NTLDR.
Much obliged if you could re-visit the question in the later message.

Thanks

Phil


 




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