Can;t open windows c drive

[sami]

Hi

I have 2 computers, the knoppix cd works fine on both computers, however on one computer my windows c drive can be loaded when i click on its icon on the knoppix desktop (it opens with Konquerer web browser, works great allowing me to copy files to cd/dvd disks)
Un-fortunatley on my other computer i cannot open my windows c drive (labelled as hda2 on my knoppix desktop) When i try to open (in any prog, including Konquerer) i get the following dialogue box open up, stating the following

Error
Could not mount device
The report error was
mount wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2
or too many mounted file systems.

Could anyone please help me as i need to access the files on my windows c drive to enable me to copy them to cd/dvd.

My computer crashed and won't boot up hence the reason to try Knoppix (by the way the Knoppix operating system is amazing, and i shall be using it a lot more in the future)

How do I get around the above problem, My windows operating system is XP. I can see it listed using the Knoppix Konsole, when I type in
sudo fdisk -l /dev/hda
It is listed as hda2.

Please help, Many Thanks

Sami

I can see

[WSC-fsl]

Well its always possible that the reason you can't boot into windows in a bad hard drive or corrupt partitioning scheme etc.

Assuming that is not true I would try this...
1) Fire up knoppix
2) Open a root shell by typing su at the prompt
3) Make sure the drive is NOT mounted umount /dev/hda2
4) Try to mount the drive mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
If this works and you can now access your drive through shell then the issue is probably with you /etc/fstab file. If it doesn't work then at least you will have more information to what the problem might be. Good luck!

[sami]

Tried to umount hda2 it says that it is not mounted. Tried to mount and it says
mount: can't find /dev/hda2/mnt/hda2 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab
I think that my partions are wrong, or i must have a corrupt hard drive. If my partitions are messed up is there anything I can do to put them right and then try to mound my windows c drive.

I get the folowing in the Konsole window when I type in fdisk -l /dev/hda


root@ttyp0[knoppix]# fdisk -l /dev/hda

Disk /dev/hda: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 2 5 32130 5 Extended
/dev/hda2 * 6 14593 117178110 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda5 2 5 32098+ 6 FAT16



Many Thanks

sami

[windos_no_thanks]

Tried to umount hda2 it says that it is not mounted. Tried to mount and it says
mount: can't find /dev/hda2/mnt/hda2 in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

You typed it incorrectly, there's supposed to be a space before /mnt/hda2

[sami]

I have just retyped the correct command in (thanks by the way) with the space and it now says (bloody dammmmmmm computer)

root@ttyp0[knoppix]# mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2,
or too many mounted file systems


What the hell does this mean and how do I get around the problem. The c drive is there but how do I access the damm thing. I will have to give in shortly and revert to re-formatting my hard drive I don't want to do this as I have valuable info on there,,,,, please please pretty please can anyone help ?

Many Thanks

Sami

[WSC-fsl]

Deep breathes Sami we're getting there...

This particular error is generic...it might as well say..."Mounting this drive failed"...cause thats about all it tells us.

Don't reformat your drive...determination...that's the key!

Now lets go again...
root prompt - su
Now the command - mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 says very litteraly mount your partition to folder /mnt/hda2. That failed, lets go from there.
Lets check and make sure that the directory /mnt/hda2 exists by trying to make this directory. - mkdir /mnt/hda2
If this works try the mount command again. - mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
If the folder already exists, lets add to the mount command and identify the type of drive like this - mount -t ntfs /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
If this still fails let the forum know. The answer is out there.
As for the drive/partition being corrupt, yes it's possible and there are a whole slew of utilities out there for fixing this, however, don't jump the gun. Your making the right move by trying to use KNOPPIX to save your data. Though perhaps we can help you determine if your drive is corrupt with a little more information. How was the drive acting before the "crash"? Have you experienced problems with this drive in the past (Booting, crashing, excessive noise, etc)? What's the age of the drive? ... And so on and so forth....
Keep us posted and Good Luck!

[milkjam]

I get the same problem:

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8423

[sami]

Hi

Thanks for the the reply. I have typed in the commands and the following appeared in the Konsole window

knoppix@ttyp0[knoppix]$ su
root@ttyp0[knoppix]# mkdir /mnt/hda2
mkdir: cannot create directory `/mnt/hda2': File exists
root@ttyp0[knoppix]# mount -t ntfs /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda2,
or too many mounted file systems
root@ttyp0[knoppix]#

Not looking very good me thinks. The hard drive is 18 months hold and as crashed badly once before, about a year ago, but I was then able to save my c drive by using the recovery program in the windows start up disk.

The drive was acting fine just before this recent crash, no noises etc. I did use nortons disk defrag prog to de-frag my hard drive just before the crash, but other than that I had done nothing out of the ordinary. I did though drop a bit of a clanger, after this recent crash. When I tried to use the recovery prog (in windows start up disk) it was going fine when I accidentally turned my computer OF (silly me) I then did the most stupuid thing. In desperation I created a new partition, thinking this may help, but it only seems to have made the problem worse. That's when I resorted to Knoppix (which I'm having much fun with, other than it not helping me as yet to get back my valuable files )

If I have no luck with Knoppix, what other utilities are out there which I could try.

May I thank everyone who as helped me.

Sami

[WSC-fsl]

Sorry it took me a while to get back to you Sami.
There are alot of issues here so I reread everything and have another suggestion. You mentioned having two computers. Why don't you move the hard drive in question to the other computer and try to access it from the installed operating system.

Good Luck,

fsl