That extra info helps. Yes, I see the problem. But AFAIK remastering involves a hard drive "install", making the changes and then creation of a new ISO. May not be the best thing to do on a flaky drive.

If you can live without the wireless connection and have a wired nic then I would go that way. Also, you didn't make it clear what is wrong with the drive; maybe just getting Windows off and Linux ion might help, or maybe a simple software program like Steve Gibson's Spinrite might restore the drive (but Spinrite is not cheap, unless you can find someone with it I don't think I would spend the money to try to save one old Laptop drive, it might be better spent on a replacement hard drive).

One other thing that you might consider is shopping around for the right Live CD for your hardware. There are lots of good live CDs out there and many have different wireless support than Knoppix. Still don't know what hardware you have so can't start to direct you, but maybe Katonix, Mandiva, Knoppix STD, or one of the others already has support for your particular wireless device included.