[nfbcs] access hard drive

Mon Apr 5 14:28:36 UTC 2010

Here is a link to an accessible, free tool to burn iso images in Windows:
http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm

I've been using IsoRecorder for years but I am a Windows XP user. I don't 
know about the Windows Vista or Windows 7 versions.

Also, there are many more tools than fsck-fat and parted for restoring file 
systems in linux. Here is a link to an article about how to use PhotoRec to 
restore files using linux:
http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/storage/8257-how-to-recover-lost-files-after-you-accidentally-wipe-your-hard-drive

I once re-installed linux on a computer so the HD was repartitioned and 
reformatted. Still I was able to get some files back. I used dd to make an 
image of the disk and then I worked from that. These tools allow you to get 
files back from a disk even if you've repartitioned and reformatted as long 
as the files you want haven't been over written with new files. It takes 
some luck and it takes a very long time.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Barbour" <jbar at barcore.com>; <0 at barcore.com>; <215 at barcore.com>; 
<0c at barcore.com>
To: "NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 6:48 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] access hard drive

> Kelly, I totally agree that a linux solution can fix the partition
> table. We'll just have to agree to disagree about fsck.vfat doing as
> good a job as available microsoft tools.
>
> Bryan,
>
> If your friend decides to go with a linux solution (which is
> free and accessible, but has a steeper learning curve), then they
> should look for a live CD with the orca screen reader on it.  Googling
> for "orca linux live CD" will help you find one.
>
> Another way to resize the partition is to use something like "parition
> magic", which will be more friendly, since it's a task oriented
> approach rather than starting with a linux shell.  However, I suspect
> that partition magic is not free, and it is certainly not accessible.
> Googling for "partition magic" will take you to the right place to
> download the software.
>
> Regardless of whether they go with linux or partition magic, they'll
> need to download an ISO image and burn it to a CD, which is something
> I don't know how to do on a windows machine. I'm sure it's doable, I
> just don't know how.
>
> If they decide to go with partition magic, they'll need a sighted
> assistant to drive the computer.  They start by putting the partition
> magic cd they just created into the drive, and booting the machine.
> After that, they should just poke around until they find the correct
> item for resizing the partition.  I have high confidence that this
> will be fairly easy to do.
>
> For linux, your friend should spend a bit of time reading docs about
> how orca works.  Further, they'll want to read docs about parted which
> is aprogram that will do partition management on hard drives.  Again,
> it's important to remember what Kelly says.  There are no safety rails
> here.  If they aren't sure what they're doing, they can completely
> ruin any data on the disk.  (sorry, I know it's dramatic)
>
> They'll boot their computer off the live CD, start
> orca, start a terminal, and then run parted.
>
> I can get into more specifics if you'd like, but start with this and
> see how it goes.
>
> Jim
>
> On Fri, Apr 02, 2010 at 06:37:35PM -0400, Kelly Prescott wrote:
>> I think the linux tools could just resize the partition to fix it.
>> and yes linux can repair the filesystem with just as much reliability as 
>> a
>> ms tool.
>> the failing is not with the linux tools, but rather the knowledge of who 
>> is
>> using them.
>> Linux has no fail-safes so if you nuke it, you own all the parts.
>> I have repaired many disks/filesystems that commercial and ms tools said
>> were toast!
>> If you want to discuss it voice, you can call me at 419.909.0550 and I 
>> will
>> be happy to chat about it.
>> The key is more information.
>> at this point we are making a lot of asumptions and that can be where our
>> logic falls apart.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Bryan Schulz
>> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 11:19 AM
>> To: NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] access hard drive
>>
>> hi,
>>
>> the problem was the main drive was 500gb and the spare drive is only 
>> 250gb.
>> the purpose was to reduce the size so the main drive could be copied to 
>> the
>> spare drive so the spare drive could be used in another tower.
>> i think the entire partition was resized instead of making another 
>> partition
>>
>> and now it can't be accessed.
>>
>> Bryan Schulz
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Jim Barbour" <jbar at barcore.com>
>> To: "NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 10:00 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] access hard drive
>>
>>
>> > The point is that they boot off the live linux CD.  This gives them an
>> > environment to work in that isn't making use of their windows boot disk
>> >
>> > If they aren't a linux user, this does have a rather high learning 
>> > curve.
>> >
>> > However, I'm not really sure that this solution meets the needs of
>> > Bryan's friend.  If I understand correctly, this friend has a
>> > corrupted mbr and possibly a corrupted filesystem they want to repair,
>> > so they can copy files from the disk.
>> >
>> > Linux can rewrite the MBR, but probably not repair the vfat table.
>> > My experience is that LInux's tools for repairing vfat filesystems are
>> > not as reliable as the ones MS provides.
>> >
>> > Bryan, can you explain further what the exact problem is?
>> >
>> > Jim
>> >
>> > On Fri, Apr 02, 2010 at 09:32:41AM -0500, Bryan Schulz wrote:
>> >> as most, he doesn't use linux.
>> >> how is that supposed to work with windows machines?
>> >>
>> >> Bryan Schulz
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Prescott"
>> >> <prescott at deltav.org>
>> >> To: "'NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List'" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> >> Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 9:00 AM
>> >> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] access hard drive
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> >use a linux rescue disk and you can do it with that.
>> >> >you can also copy and resize partitions with it.
>> >> >so you could take all data from one partition and put it on the new
>> >> >drive
>> >> >and resize the new partition.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >2 choices are:
>> >> >grml http://www.grml.org and system rescue cd
>> >> >http://www.sysrescd.org
>> >> >the grml is probably better as if you have a hardware synthesizer it
>> >> >will
>> >> >most likely be able to speak from boot.
>> >> >
>> >> >the best thing about these solutions is they are free!
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >-----Original Message-----
>> >> >From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> >> >Behalf
>> >> >Of Bryan Schulz
>> >> >Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 2:11 AM
>> >> >To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> >> >Subject: [nfbcs] access hard drive
>> >> >
>> >> >hi,
>> >> >
>> >> >a friend wants to know if there are programs that will recreate the 
>> >> >mbr
>> >> >master boot record and fat file allocation table so files can be
>> >> >copied from
>> >> >a hard drive that has not been reformatted yet.
>> >> >
>> >> >Bryan Schulz
>> >> >_______________________________________________
>> >> >nfbcs mailing list
>> >> >nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> >> >http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>> >> >To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>> >> >for nfbcs:
>> >>
>> >http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/prescott%40deltav.or
>> g
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >_______________________________________________
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>> >>
>> >>
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