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View Full Version : "only root can mount noauto,users,exec"



dbls
11-29-2009, 06:01 PM
Hey everybody,

I'm new here, and I'm kind of an ignorant with this stuff,so I guess this shouldn't be a problem to you.
The thing is, I was happily using Win XP, but some spyware managed to screw everything up, including all the antivirus and antispyware software I had.

I wanted to try and recover my files with Knoppix, but the hda1, hda2 etc stuff, that used to show up on my desktop, doesn't anymore.
However, when I access media:/, I can see CD-ROM, Floppy and an unmounted "Hard Disk (noauto,users,exec)".
When I click Mount, an error window comes up saying "mount: only root can mount noauto,users,exec on 0. Please check that the disk is entered correctly."

I know a lot of people have already come here with similar issues, and I did try a lot of commands I saw here, but the best I got was creating an empty "hda1" folder in my desktop, with some empty subfolders in it, which was no use.

Don't know what kind of HD I have. My Knoppix version is 4.0.
I was wondering if my HD has been actually damaged.
I would very much appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance.

Harry Kuhman
11-29-2009, 08:56 PM
...
Don't know what kind of HD I have. My Knoppix version is 4.0.
....
I don't know what kind of hard drive you have either. There was a Knoppix version 4.02., I don't know of any version 4.0. Version 4.02 did automount what it could and show the partitions on the desktop. The current version is 6.2. All 6.x versions do not show the hard drive partitions on the desktop, although they might still get mounted. So I'm not sure what you have or if any mounting is needed. If you are typing a shell command and get a message that only root or super user can do that, either prefix the command with sudo or just open a root shell.

Of course, I hope that you are only trying to get to the hard drive for reading, if the partitions are NTFS it is not safe to write to them.

dbls
11-30-2009, 01:31 AM
Thanks for the quick reply.

Actually, I only get this message when right-clicking the Hard Drive icon and clicking Mount.
I did try sudo sth, I think sudo mount /dev/hda1. Which only created the empty hda1 folder.
It would probably help if I knew the appropriate command for this. =P

Bottom line is, I just want to get to the files inside the hd so I can copy them somewhere else and format the computer.

I also read a lot of people talking about /etc/fstab, but I can't find this "fstab" folder.
Do you think getting a newer version of Knoppix would make a difference?

Thanks again.

Harry Kuhman
11-30-2009, 01:46 AM
Do you think getting a newer version of Knoppix would make a difference?

Well, I really have no good idea of what version you have now, since to my knowledge no version called 4.0 was released (unless it was maybe a trade show release) and 4.02 is the only 4.x version that I have. If you do have a 4.0 release than it should already have the partitions open and showing on the desktop. I think that 4.x had SATA support, although never having seen it, just maybe 4.0 didn't, but I think that 4.02 did. So if you have a newer SATA drive and it can't be opened by your Knoppix then just maybe a newer version will help. It seems more likely that Windows has roached the hard drive bad enough that Knoppix can't find the partitions. Often in my experience the partitions themselves are damaged enough that Knoppix can't open them. However, in some cases, just the partition table part of the MBR is damaged. In these cases the partition can be recovered with gpart or even testdisk (I recommend gpart but it is harder to use, meaning that you may have to resort to actually reading the documentation before recovering the partitions with it).

dbls
11-30-2009, 08:46 PM
I tried testdisk, as it seemed easier to do. =P
First I had to put "sudo cp /usr/lib/libntfs.so.7 /usr/lib/libntfs.so.5", so it would work.
It said the partition sector didn't have the endmark 0xAA55, and then analysed the cylinder or sth and found nothing.

Do you think there is another way to get to my files?

Thanks for the patience.

Harry Kuhman
11-30-2009, 11:32 PM
I tried testdisk, as it seemed easier to do. =P
Yes, so hard to read and follow the documentation for the better tool.


First I had to put "sudo cp /usr/lib/libntfs.so.7 /usr/lib/libntfs.so.5", so it would work.
This appears to be some sort of religious invocation to the Linux gods. It is written in the language of the Linux high priests, which I do not speak. I do recall from somewhere in the ancient past of my memory having problems with testdisk in 4.02. This well could be related.


It said the partition sector didn't have the endmark 0xAA55, and then analysed the cylinder or sth and found nothing.
Sounds to me like there is indeed a problem with the partition itself (and not the partition table in the MBR). That would explain what a 4.x version didn't mount it and put an icon on the desktop. If so, no manual mount command that I know of is going to give you better results. I have had Windows destroy several disks that Knoppix could not recover files from, so thake comfort in not being alone and that this is pretty typical of Windows. a large number of the new users who come here seem to come because of Windows corruption issues.


Do you think there is another way to get to my files?
Well, of course, the best advice is to load them from your backups. All important files are backed up, by definition if you use Windows and you didn't make backups then the files were not important and are not worth worrying about.

However, that you asked implies that you didn't make backups. I don't have any Knoppix based fix to offer. However, I have recently come across some Windows software that can in some cases recover files. It is not perfect, and it might muck up file names or other things, but it may be worth a try and it is free. It recovered some files for me (but one disk could not be recovered). This does involve moving around hard drives into a working Windows system. You can find the software here: www.piriform.com/recuva

dbls
12-01-2009, 08:05 PM
I do have a backup of about 120gb... I wasn't willing to give up the rest, though. =(
I'm formatting the hd anyway... but thanks a lot for the help. =)

Harry Kuhman
12-01-2009, 08:23 PM
Sounds like you didn't try the recuva approach, I'm not clear why. Sorry Knoppix could not have been of more help in this case, but windows can and does destroy data so effectively that even Knoppix can't read it.