Which version should I use for system recovery?

[computerdummy]

Hey guys, big time newbie when it comes to linux and have a couple of questions...

Well first off, my computer died on me a little while ago (system32 error or something) anyways I want to back up all of my music and photos onto an external hardrive before I go reinstalling windows. I was just about to purchase knoppix 6.2 and noticed there were some older versions as well. Now should I stick to a particular version that would be better suited for me just for system recovery? Or should I just go ahead and get 6.2? All I want to do is use it to back up my files and want the simplest, easy to use, and hassle free version. Thanks in advance!

[Harry Kuhman]

Any version should work for copying files, although if you have an older version (5.3, 5.1, 4.02 or 3.x) then you should get desktop icons for your partitions, I think they are lacking in 6.2. You seem to have Internet access, you could download the iso by torrent and get started recovering several days faster than waiting for a purchase to arrive (I suggest downloading by torrent, which is both faster and more error immune than the mirrors). And be warned that if the external drive is NTFS formatted it is not safe to write to it.

[computerdummy]

I just googled NTFS because I have no idea what it meant, haha. So from what I think I found out, if the external drive was used on a windows computer it is automatically formatted to NTFS, or must it be manually configured? The reason I ask is because it is my moms hard drive and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't know how to format it unless it is done automatically.

Also, once formatted to NTFS it is not compatable with the Linux system, correct? Is there any way to find out if my drive is NTFS formatted, and if so can I change it?

sorry for all the questions, but thanks for the help!

[Clinton]

It's automatically formatted to NTFS in later versions of Windows (and Windows NT/2000). But Windows 98 and 98SE has the option of NTFS or FAT32 (one more thing to Google! :))

[computerdummy]

Well it should definitely be NTFS formatted then. So next question...how do I make it compatible to my computer when running the knoppix live cd so I can safely transfer my files?

[iki]

Hello.
Harry, why do you say it's not safe to write on it?
I mean, if computerdummy boots Knoppix live-cd, he opens the file manager and can see his hard drive and his external drive and can just copy the files from one to the other that should be fine for him.
I'm saying because I don't know about this limitation you're talking about. If it's really dangerous (in terms of losing data - even though I've never had such a problem in the few times I did such a thing) then computerdummy would have to create a new partition in the external drive with Gparted (which I don't know if it comes with Knoppix cd but it can be installed to the live cd by opening the root terminal - in the menu - and typing 'apt-get update && apt-get install gparted') with a different filesystem (maybe FAT 32) and copy the files to it.
So maybe you would suggest to create a FAT 32 partition in the external drive?

[Harry Kuhman]

Hello.
Harry, why do you say it's not safe to write on it?
I mean, if computerdummy boots Knoppix live-cd, he opens the file manager and can see his hard drive and his external drive and can just copy the files from one to the other that should be fine for him....
So maybe you would suggest to create a FAT 32 partition in the external drive?
Knoppix by default will make that "open" a read-only open. It deliberately will resist writing to any hard drive withf either FAT or NTFS partitions. The restriction on not writing to FAT can safely be overwritten (I have done this many thines). Some people have managed to over ride the restriction on NTFS as well, but ....

I say it is not safe because after years of watching this forums and years of people reporting corrupted NTFS partitions after writing to them with Knoppix, I've come to believe that it is not safe. I've seen one report after another that "now Knoppix can finally write to NTFS", only to find it was premature and that problems still exist. More recently I've seen some talk of using an alternate hard disk driver that might work properly, but Knoppix is still defaulting to the dangerous one that will corrupt a partition. I don't know how to use the alternate hard disk driver and be certain that I'm even not using the known dangerous driver, so I have to believe that someone who calls himself computerdummy doesn't know how to do that either.

He is not going to be able to create an extra FAT32 partition on the disk, for the simple reason that virtually all disks are going to be just about 100% partitioned, no reseller or average user leaves an extra 100 gig lying around for some future partition.

If the external drive had no needed data on it and could be completely reformatted as FAT32 (erasing any files on it) then this recovery could be done safely. I don't know the state of that drive and would not want to suggest any operation that would cause even more loss of data. I thought that what I had posted and a bit of common sense should be enough to let one decide the next move for themselves.

[computerdummy]

Knoppix by default will make that "open" a read-only open. It deliberately will resist writing to any hard drive withf either FAT or NTFS partitions. The restriction on not writing to FAT can safely be overwritten (I have done this many thines). Some people have managed to over ride the restriction on NTFS as well, but ....

I say it is not safe because after years of watching this forums and years of people reporting corrupted NTFS partitions after writing to them with Knoppix, I've come to believe that it is not safe. I've seen one report after another that "now Knoppix can finally write to NTFS", only to find it was premature and that problems still exist. More recently I've seen some talk of using an alternate hard disk driver that might work properly, but Knoppix is still defaulting to the dangerous one that will corrupt a partition. I don't know how to use the alternate hard disk driver and be certain that I'm even not using the known dangerous driver, so I have to believe that someone who calls himself computerdummy doesn't know how to do that either.

He is not going to be able to create an extra FAT32 partition on the disk, for the simple reason that virtually all disks are going to be just about 100% partitioned, no reseller or average user leaves an extra 100 gig lying around for some future partition.

If the external drive had no needed data on it and could be completely reformatted as FAT32 (erasing any files on it) then this recovery could be done safely. I don't know the state of that drive and would not want to suggest any operation that would cause even more loss of data. I thought that what I had posted and a bit of common sense should be enough to let one decide the next move for themselves.

I am indeed "average" when it comes to computers but I would hardly call knowing that all disks are already partitioned (or what partitioning means) and to reformat to FAT32 as common sense...but I do appreciate the help, honestly.

I'll just go ahead and clear the external drive of all files and then reformat to FAT32 and transfer my files over. I hope I'm not missing any other foreseeable common sense issues. thanks again guys

[Harry Kuhman]

I realize that not everyone has a technical knowledge of formatting, although I expect that when the terms formatting, NTFS and FAT are thrown out, most people who don't know them will Google the terms and gain any needed information.

Good luck on reformatting the drive as FAT32. Once you do that you should be able to transfer files to it safely. However, Knoppix may by default mount the new partition in read-only mode. You might need to remount the drive in read-write mode. To get more information on this, type man mount at a command prompt.

[computerdummy]

cool thanks for the heads up!