Re: Trying to rescue a hard disk -- weired feedback??

max bianco wrote:

On Jan 18, 2008 12:12 PM, max bianco <maximilianbianco@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:maximilianbianco@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

    On Jan 18, 2008 11:59 AM, William Case <billlinux@xxxxxxxxxx
    <mailto:billlinux@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

        Hi;

        I have never been a tech support person.  But I can see why some
        of them
        go crazy.


        My friend just told me that his drive 'broke' while he was trying to
        increase the size of his WindowXP partition while in Fedora using
        'parted'.  His description "Everything was working fine then
        'parted'
        burped and didn't finish moving files and the disk hasn't worked
        since".

        It sounds like he has lost all his partitions.  He can't
        re-install the
        Windows part.  He bought his re-furbished computer that included
        WindowsXP Pro from a reputable dealer.  He failed to get an
        installation
        disk.  I assume the .cab files have been stored in the Windows
        partition.

        As unlikely as it seems, can anyone suggest a way to find a
        bootable
        partition, Fedora or Windows.  If I can get to Fedora, there is
        a chance
        I can rescue his Fedora files, and perhaps mount the Windows
        partition
        to save some of his Windows files.  If not, I will tell him to
        phone the
        dealer and see if they can help.

        Although the situation is not desperate, desperate (i.e. only
        personal
        and household data are on his files) I am regarding this as a
        learning
        challenge that contains some bragging rights.  Any suggestions
        gratefully received.

        --


    Assuming you can mount the drive . Try some of the data recovery
    tools in the repos

testdisk has worked for me in the past, dd_rescue is another and there are more but my experience with data recovery is limited.

    Always read the man pages before you use the tools.

    -Max

I wasn't very clear. Hook the drive up to a working Linux box. Most of the data recovery tools are there for most of the distributions. There are some live cd's that contain such tools but i can't for the life of me think of one right now.

-Max

Mikkel
--

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

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