Knoppix Hard Drive Format compatibility

**Phr0stbyt3** · 06-14-2005, 05:59 AM

My computer (AMDXP 2100+, WD HDD, R8500LE, 512RAM) recently had what I think is a low level boot virus, as when I try to boot it says invalid boot.ini file, and then says hal.dll is missing! I have knoppix 3.8.1 and am using this atm to backup important files on the computer. I would rpefer not to remove all data from the disc but if it has to be that then so be it.

I was just wondering, are HDD formats done in knoppix compatible to load Win98 and WinXP on?

Also, is there an alternative to this, as in could I restore boot.ini and hal.dll through knoppix without deleting data?

Note: I only have the backup of WinXP, as the original was lost in a recent move along with lots of other CDs that I don't know how they went missing. Anyway this backup I found out I cannot boot form, but luckily I had purchased Win98SE with boot floppy and I install that to get a boot and then install WinXP over the top of it, hence I need a solution that does not involve the recovery console from the WinXP boot CD!

Cheers!

**UnderScore** · 06-14-2005, 09:57 PM

Was your windows partition formatted as FAT32 or was it formatted with NTFS. If it is FAT32 then you should have no problem reading & writing to that disk from Knoppix. if it was NTFS then you can only read. You can not write to a NTFS disk partition with Knoppix.

**Phr0stbyt3** · 06-16-2005, 12:53 AM

Yes it was FAT32. I found that I can read it (copy and paste folders into usb drive etc.) but I havent tried much else. What I want to do is copy important folders/documents/etc. (which I have done) and now I want to format the hard drive. If I format this hard drive using the knoppix CD (assuming it has fdisk or similar) will it still be able to load windows on it or is it somehow a different format? I know its a silly question as a format should just be a format but I want to make sure. I dont have a problem using linux but family do!

**Phr0stbyt3** · 06-18-2005, 12:17 AM

Anyone?

**Harry Kuhman** · 06-18-2005, 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by Phr0stbyt3

I know its a silly question as a format should just be a format

**Phr0stbyt3** · 06-23-2005, 10:11 AM

Anyway I tried formatting it as follows:

I got into the root using 'su'

'fdisk /dev/hda1'
'd' to delete partition 1
'n' to create a new partition, 'p' to make it a primary partition. I used default sizes assuming it is the whole disc.
't' to change type to 'c' [W95 FAT32 (LBA)], then 'w' to write...

Problem is it says something about an error: 22. And that it cannot read the new table and that the new table will be read on reboot, I tried rebooting both the konsole and the PC to nary avail!

Help on re-formatting the hard drive please someone? anyone?

**fingers99** · 06-23-2005, 11:26 PM

try mkdosfs /dev/hda1 which should at least create something Windows is happy to format.

**Phr0stbyt3** · 06-25-2005, 01:17 AM

That didn't work, it said it;s trying to create too large a file system or something, keep in mind the hard drive is 80GB which I'd warrant is alot more than DOS knows!