[nfbcs] Booting from Linux CD and Accessing the Hard Drive

Wed Apr 7 20:37:40 UTC 2010

I'm not really a heavy-duty Windows nerd.  The closest I'veever come to 
doing something like what you're asking about is one time I fixed up the 
boot.ini file after I'd messed it up

There is a live linux CD called vinux that supposedly comes up talking. 
I've never used it. I've always used grml or ubuntu when I need to boot from 
a live CD. But I already know how to start speech.

But I would probably recommend that you start with vinux if you are not 
already familiar with linux.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 12:05 PM
Subject: [nfbcs] Booting from Linux CD and Accessing the Hard Drive

> John,
>
> I assume that you are familiar with booting from a Linux CD from your note 
> below.  What I am wondering is to what degree could a person boot from a 
> Linux CD with
> speech as an alternative to "Safe mode" which is generally not accessible? 
> While this is probably too vague a question to answer with a "yes" or 
> "no," I assume
> that one could do some file manipulation on one's hard drive providing the 
> drive was not dammaged, but what sorts of tools would one need to do that? 
> Do you
> know of any specific Linux-based tools that are designed to make repairs 
> to the Windows operating system?  For example, if one were to boot from 
> Linux, the
> Windows registry would obviously not be loaded into memory, but the files 
> containing the registry should be accessible if a tool new how to process 
> them.  The idea
> of booting into Linux from a CD without installing something on the 
> computer is an interesting one.  How easy is FireFox to use in this 
> environment?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> On Wed, 7 Apr 2010 09:36:57 -0500, John G. Heim wrote:
>
>>It depends on how much you value the data you lost and how much time 
>>you're
>>willing to spend learning some new tricks. And even if it doesn't answer 
>>the
>>original poster's question, there are a lot of people on this list who may
>>at some point need this kind of information.  It might take some work to
>>acquire these skills but they would be valuable skills to have.
>
>>Learning how to make a live linux CD would be a good thing for almost
>>everybody to know no matter their skill level. If you do on-line banking,
>>the best, most secure way to do it is to boot a live linux CD and use
>>firefox.  I would think that just about anybody capable of doing their
>>banking on-line could also figure out how to download ubuntu and burn it 
>>to
>>a CD if given a pointer or 2.
>
>>----- Original Message ----- 
>>From: "Kelly Prescott" <prescott at deltav.org>
>>To: "'NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List'" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>>Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 2:37 PM
>>Subject: Re: [nfbcs] access hard drive
>
>
>>>I have also used methods similar, but I think this goes way beyond what
>>>most
>>> users are willing/able to do.
>>> just use something like carbonite.com and restore from there when you 
>>> nuke
>>> your windows drive.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>>> Behalf
>>> Of John G. Heim
>>> Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 10:29 AM
>>> To: NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] access hard drive
>>>
>>> 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
>>>>> >> >
>>>>> >> >
>>>>> >> >_______________________________________________
>>>>> >> >nfbcs mailing list
>>>>> >> >nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>>>>> >> >http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
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>>>>> >> >for nfbcs:
>>>>> >>
>>>>>
>>>>http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/b.schulz%40sbcglobal
>>>>> .net
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> >
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