Trying to use Knoppix to fix windows disk read error

[destro]

I am a knoppix newbie and I'm hopinh to find help with a windows "disk read error". I have pictures and documents I would like to recover from my HD and can't see them with Knoppix. I'm not sure if the HD has crashed or there is a problem with my MBR. When I turn on the computer it posts and right after that i get "Disk read error" press Ctrl + Alt + Delete to restart.....

any help would be great :?

[destro]

the HD did not crash, I just can't get to my main partition. I can not see my C:\ from knoppix and when I start my machine I don't have the option of last known good configuration. I'm assuming a virus might have caused this???

[Harry Kuhman]

Two common problems with Windows are the MBR getting mucked up and the partition itself getting mucked up. It would be nice to blame a virus, but the truth is Windows will do this all by itself without any help. If it's the partition mucked up so bad that Knoppix can't see it then I can't offer you any help. If it's only the MBR mucked up, then the partition could still be there, just can't be found because it's entry in the partition table is mucked up. See the command gpart for a way to try to recover the partition table entry, (type man gpart at a console for help).

[destro]

gpart didn't work. I even tried to manually mount hda1 instead of clicking on it, but I still can't find it. I eventually tried a windows disk to try the automated system recovery, but it only shows my D partition, which is my system restore partition. I can see D:\miniNT and D:\i386 but no C drive. I also tried to fixmbr in windows, but it said one or more sectors are unrepairable. Does that mean my hard drive is completely shot?? If so does anyone know what a cause may be? My pc has been running great for as long as I have had it up until this. Its roughly 6 years old....

[Harry Kuhman]

.. it only shows my D partition, which is my system restore partition. I can see D:\miniNT and D:\i386 but no C drive. .... Does that mean my hard drive is completely shot?? If so does anyone know what a cause may be? .....
No, the hard drive isn't completely shot. The C partition may be however. In my experience (3 completely shot partitions in 3 years, as seeing it over and over again from other users here), the cause is .... Windows.

[destro]

Harry, is there any way possible that you know of that I might be able to get to the C drive in order to at least save my pictures. I have my kids baby pictures on there that I never backed up(the past 6 months or so). ??[/quote]

[Harry Kuhman]

Harry, is there any way possible that you know of that I might be able to get to the C drive in order to at least save my pictures. I have my kids baby pictures on there that I never backed up(the past 6 months or so). ??
I also have a couple of drives with partitions that windows mucked up, and I can't recover files from them either. If gpart can fix a MBR then great, and sometimes Knoppix will mount a partition even when windows will not, but if these don't work I don't know anything in the Linux world that will help you.

There are some commercial programs that claim to be able to recover files. Steve Gibson makes lots of vague claims about SpinRight, but as far as I can tell it can only help if the data on the sectors has "gone bad", it doesn't really seem to know anything about NTFS or be able to fix anything that Windows did if the bits are wrong but nice and solid. I have looked at several other commercial software programs, many have free trials that will look at your data and tell you if they think they can recover anything, but then hld your data ransom untill you pay them. In my case I only found one package that could even tell me what was on one of my disks, couldn't recover the other, and it wanted way too much money for what I had out there for me to pay them to get the data. (Sorry, I don't recall the name of the program). If anyone knows a better way I would welcome it too, I still have those two drives waiting and hoping that I will be able to recover from them.

[drb]

Some good tips in this questions/answers column :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/23/guardianweeklytechnologysection4

I've managed to recover files from a wiped hard drive. These programmes generally recover by writing somewhere else rather than 'reappearing' on the existing drive which would overwrite other data so use a USB drive or other partitions (where there is no data you want) on the drive you're trying to recover.