can't find knoppix filesystem

**kamitree** · 07-31-2009, 07:38 PM

So i'm trying to use insert because it has some recovery tools i wanted to use (seems that knoppix has a lot of daily use tools but not things to use should i need to repartition my windows box or something) and every time i start up I get the "Can't find INSERT Filesystem..." I have also tried STD and got the same error (change insert for knoppix)... but here is the funny thing I have also made a knoppix live cd and that works perfectly fine (it will boot up and everything) so is it just mean or is it something i can fix (i have tired the live cds on two different boxes and both wont boot it and both boxes are dell towers)

**Harry Kuhman** · 07-31-2009, 07:48 PM

It is important to burn discs at low speed, but I'm guessing that the reason that you can't boot STD is because it predates SATA drives and you are trying to boot it on a optical drive with an SATA interface. I don't know anything about the other distro that you mentioned, but could that be the problem with that disc too?

**kamitree** · 07-31-2009, 08:25 PM

... i'll burn a new disk and i'll try to set it to burn really slow, but could that really be the problem? i burned knoppix at full speed using all the same methods to burn Insert and it worked just fine

if you care to know here is the site to INSERT http://www.inside-security.de/INSERT_en.html i found it on the knoppix wiki

**Harry Kuhman** · 07-31-2009, 08:38 PM

I really don't care enough about Insert to look it up. Yes, burning speed is a big problem, we have seen that time and time again. See here and here and here for just a few examples. Did you really think I said this just to give you a hard time? Of course, if an ISO lacks SATA support then burning slow is not going to make it boot on an SATA drive. But high speed burns are marginal burns, they might work, very often they work on some systems but not others (even the system they were made on).

**kamitree** · 07-31-2009, 09:20 PM

I was only asking considering the fact that i burnt knoppix at the same speed at that ran fine (which would lead me to question if speed really is the issue at this point) and i am almost sure it is not a sata problem because INSERT uses a 5.1.1 knoppix core. Like i said i'll try the speed issue first, could you recommend any other solutions that could be used for system recovery, tech tools, ntfs repartitioning?

**Harry Kuhman** · 07-31-2009, 10:05 PM

For NTFS partitions my advice is to use Windows, never use any Linux distro. If you want to create a new NTFS partition, use Windows. If you are trying to change the size of an existing NTFS partition, Partition magic can do that, but it strongly cautions you to have good backups of everything first. Of course, if you have good backups of everything then you could just reinstall Windows from the Windows discs and make the partitions whatever size you want without buying the expensive Partition Magic software, but to each his own.

Knoppix 6.x seems particularly stripped of decent tools. Knoppix 5.x (particularly the DVD but to some extent the CD) has decent tools, including Linux partitioning tools, but 5.x is extremely poorly organized and much of what one is looking for has been swept to the lost and found directory. As far as I'm concerned the last decent release of Knoppix was 4.02, but that is getting harder and harder to find (and as far as I know no longer available by fast and reliable torrents, only on some mirrors that may corrupt the download (mirror downloads were corrupt for me about 50% of the time so the md5 test is extremely important to do after downloading from a mirror)). There are a wealth of other Live CDs and DVDs, from Puppy Linux to the Backtrack series, each has it's own strengths. What is right for you depends on what you need. As I say, I don't believe any Linux distro is right for making NTFS partitions, so I'm not going to suggest any to do that.

High speed burns sometimes work, although even when they do they often cause other problems that might be less evident. See the third example link that I gave you, a Knoppix disc that was apparently working but the user was complaining of how long it took to boot Knoppix. After I had him burn a disc at the proper speed it booted much faster. They are also much more prone to working on one system but not another, leading the user to think there is something wrong with the failing system when there really isn't. (Often indicated by the ignorant claim "I know the disc is OK because it worked on a different computer and I'll not consider your experience".) If you don't want to believe that speed is an issue, go right ahead and burn your discs at high speed, I have no interest in arguing with you about it. You asked what the problem was, I tried to tell you.

**Harry Kuhman** · 07-31-2009, 10:11 PM

P.S. there have been some reports of people finding a BIOS setting that in rare cases helped them get past a "cannot find Knoppix file system" message. You could search for that, but IMHO it would be folly to experiment what that without first having a good low speed burn. Even if you found the right setting you might still get a Cannot find ... message because of the burn speed and then pass right by the correct BIOS setting.