Recover Files from NTFS

**stevelw** · 07-06-2005, 03:40 PM

HI there.

I am a total beginner to any flavour of Linux and have turned to it to try nd solve a major problem. My laptop (an AJP D870P) currently runs Windows XP Professional and has recently trashed eother the boot sector of the disk or the root or the registry so I am unable to boot up - even in safe mode..

I have a Knoppix boot disc and the machine will run this quite happily and load the NTFS as a read-only filesystem. Using this I can view all the documents without any problem. My problem is that I need to get several documents off the machine onto another one before re-installing the operating system. I have a USB 2 512MB Memory Stick that Lnoppix recognises as a "USB Mass Storage Device", but I can't seem to find a way to write files to it.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in desperation!

**UnderScore** · 07-06-2005, 04:09 PM

Welcome to Knoppix.net.
First, if every newbie creates a new post with the subject line"Newbie seeks serious help" then we would have tons of useless non-descriptive subject lines. Over time, these useless subjects would not only foul up the search engine but ultimately make the forums less helpful for newbies. A better subject line would be "Recover files from NTFS drive" or "Copy files from NTFS drive to USB flash drive." You can edit your original post to change the subject line. See also http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16574 for more info on posting & subject lines.

As for your request for help, does a icon appear on the desktop for the USB device? If so you may have to enable rea/write access to the USB device by right clicking on the desktop icon and under properties, unchecking the READ ONLY option.

**stevelw** · 07-06-2005, 04:31 PM

Hi Underscore

Fair point about the topic - I've changed it as you suggested.

In answer to your question, I get two icons appearing on the desktop when I insert the USB device. Hard Disk Partition [sdf1] and Hard Disk Partition [sdb1], both are described as Desktop Config Files with a size of 463b, both are of type device and neither is writeable. I don't know which is the actual stick - I assume the second as f appears to relate to the drive designation under Windows.. I have no idea what the other icon represents.

**foamrotreturns** · 07-06-2005, 09:09 PM

Well, there's an easy way to find out. Place some files on the stick from another computer (just so you can tell if it's reading properly) and then boot up Knoppix with the stick inserted. Now open the sdb1 disk. If it doesn't show the same files, try the other one.

**stevelw** · 07-07-2005, 09:43 AM

Thanks Guys .. it was sdf1 as I suspected. Managed to grab both the critical files I needed (a Word doc and my Outlook PST file) and they are both now installed and available on my spare machine. Managed to trash the stick somehow when attempting to copy the Internet Favourites folders - seems some of them copied with zero length and now I can't write to, or delete from, the stick under KNoppix or XP. Doesn't really matter tho' as I got the files I really needed.

Thanks again for the help.

**foamrotreturns** · 07-07-2005, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by stevelw

Thanks Guys .. it was sdf1 as I suspected. Managed to grab both the critical files I needed (a Word doc and my Outlook PST file) and they are both now installed and available on my spare machine. Managed to trash the stick somehow when attempting to copy the Internet Favourites folders - seems some of them copied with zero length and now I can't write to, or delete from, the stick under KNoppix or XP. Doesn't really matter tho' as I got the files I really needed.

Thanks again for the help.

Try putting the stick in the XP machine and formatting it. It probably just got messed up by an incomplete unmount.

**stevelw** · 07-07-2005, 07:38 PM

Tried that. WIndows reports that it cannot format the drive.

**foamrotreturns** · 07-08-2005, 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by stevelw

Tried that. WIndows reports that it cannot format the drive.

What about using fdisk in linux?

**stevelw** · 07-08-2005, 10:49 AM

What about using fdisk in linux?

I'm on shaky ground here for two reasons ..

1. I have absolutely no idea of the syntax to format under Linux and I wouldn't want to reformat the hard disk by mistake and

2. Would formatting under Linex not put the Linux FS onto the stick thereby rendering it unreadable to Windows XP ?

**Harry Kuhman** · 07-08-2005, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by stevelw

1. I have absolutely no idea of the syntax to format under Linux and I wouldn't want to reformat the hard disk by mistake and

2. Would formatting under Linex not put the Linux FS onto the stick thereby rendering it unreadable to Windows XP ?

2. Linux can write a number of different partition formats, including FAT.

1. A touch of care and common sense may come in handy here.

The said, I don't tend to use the Linux tools much myself, I tend to like 3rd party formating tools like Ranish Partition Manager.