trying to retrieve files from corrupt windows

[gail]

I cannot boot to windows so I booted up to knoppix using the cd. I have an external HD connected via usb port. My linux for dummies book tells me I have to change the attributes to read-write. When I click on the black terinal like it says, I get the error 'KDEInit could not launch "konsole"'.

I am very ignorant in linux. I just use it on one of our desktops to browse the web.

Any help would be appreciated. I would really like to retrieve all my files.

Thank you so much.

[Jacky]

Hi, I am offering advice without knowing much about your setup. But rather than asking for more info, let me first suggest a few simple steps. They are based on a few assumptions about a typical setup, but I may be off the mark if your setup is different. If these steps don't work, please come back with more info on your equipment and we can plan the next move. I don't understand why your Konsole encounters this problem, but I am trying to work around it.

1) If Knoppix has detected your drives, you should see a number of hard disk icons on the desktop.

2) Your Windows drive, if it is the common IDE tyoe will typically show up as hda1...hda2....etc depending on how many partitions you have on it. To retrieve files from here, you need to mount the drive (read-only is enough) Right-click the icon and click "Mount".

3) If your USB external drive is formatted in the Fat32 file-system, proceed with this step. If not, skip to 4) below. The external USB drive should typically show up as sda1....sdb1... or something starting with s. Mount it in the same way as in 2). Now, right-click again, and click on "Change Read Write Mode". Answer yes to the prompt, and you have now made the external USB drive writable. Proceed and retrieve your Windows files and copy them to the USB drive.

Hopefully everything goes well.

4) Things get more complicated if your external USB drive is formatted in NTFS. Basically, I recommend that you do not try to use Knoppix to write to an NTFS drive as you may encounter problomes. I would suggest in this case to use another place to store your rescued data, such as a USB thumb-stick, which is usually formatted in Fat32.

If the above does not work, there's a bigger problem somewhere on your system. Please come back with more info on your system --
-what icons do you see on your desktop.
- what error messages did you encounter when you tried to mount or change read-write mode?
- what disks you have, what format are they?
- you can't launch the black terminal. Can you click the Penguin and launch "Root Shell"?
- If you can do that, what do you see what you type "testdisk" ?

Good Luck and Regards.