Hi everyone,

Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.

Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
on the net, in the event I need to.

I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
a big Phew!!

However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
like this...)

I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
with it, that I know of.

So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.

So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)

So... I'm clueless.

This is what I've got to work with:

>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)

-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one

Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
I've recieved it.

Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!

I've done a lot of data retrieval work like this using Knoppix. If you
created the CD you are using a few years ago, make a more recent copy
(download it off the internet again, make sure to get the 3.6 or 3.8
releases). Most USB pen drives and USB external hard drives use the
FAT32 disk format, which Linux (including Knoppix) can write to. Then
just open your hard drive and the USB device (there should be icons for
both on your desktop, if using the versions I of Knoppix I suggest),
and drag and drop your data from your hard drive to the USB drive.

I've done a lot of data retrieval work like this using Knoppix. If you
created the CD you are using a few years ago, make a more recent copy
(download it off the internet again, make sure to get the 3.6 or 3.8
releases). Most USB pen drives and USB external hard drives use the
FAT32 disk format, which Linux (including Knoppix) can write to. Then
just open your hard drive and the USB device (there should be icons for
both on your desktop, if using the versions I of Knoppix I suggest),
and drag and drop your data from your hard drive to the USB drive.

I've done a lot of data retrieval work like this using Knoppix. If you
created the CD you are using a few years ago, make a more recent copy
(download it off the internet again, make sure to get the 3.6 or 3.8
releases). Most USB pen drives and USB external hard drives use the
FAT32 disk format, which Linux (including Knoppix) can write to. Then
just open your hard drive and the USB device (there should be icons for
both on your desktop, if using the versions I of Knoppix I suggest),
and drag and drop your data from your hard drive to the USB drive.

On 2 Sep 2005 13:40:15 -0700, "Pretzelz" <cryptfarm******.com> wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
>drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
>know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
>write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
>problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
>missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
>error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.
>
>Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
>creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
>need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
>£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
>on the net, in the event I need to.
>
>I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
>laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
>indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
>a big Phew!!
>
>However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
>hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
>write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
>and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
>want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
>working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
>case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
>of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
>like this...)
>
>I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
>use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
>most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
>external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
>as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
>does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
>It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
>took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
>knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
>with it, that I know of.
>
>So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
>option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
>so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
>work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.
>
>So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
>to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
>old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
>cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
>sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
> no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
>this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
>problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
>folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
>run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)
>
>So... I'm clueless.
>
>This is what I've got to work with:
>
>>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)
>
>-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
>-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one
>
>Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
>ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
>frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
>I've recieved it.
>
>Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!


> tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...

Should be: e:\cd\i386 enter

The correct command in dos to change directories is "cd". 'Change
directories'

Example c:\cd\windows enter
c:\windows cd\i386 enter

I would wait for the new drive,install the OS on that.Then put the old
drive in the external case,then recover your data.

As for your no access problem;
If the drive is formatted in NTFS, Win 98 and dos can't see or read
it.
They can only read FAT16 and FAT32 partions.They also can't read long
file names.
NTFS on the otherhand,can read a FAT partition.

On 2 Sep 2005 13:40:15 -0700, "Pretzelz" <cryptfarm******.com> wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
>drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
>know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
>write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
>problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
>missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
>error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.
>
>Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
>creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
>need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
>£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
>on the net, in the event I need to.
>
>I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
>laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
>indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
>a big Phew!!
>
>However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
>hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
>write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
>and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
>want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
>working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
>case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
>of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
>like this...)
>
>I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
>use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
>most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
>external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
>as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
>does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
>It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
>took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
>knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
>with it, that I know of.
>
>So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
>option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
>so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
>work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.
>
>So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
>to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
>old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
>cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
>sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
> no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
>this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
>problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
>folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
>run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)
>
>So... I'm clueless.
>
>This is what I've got to work with:
>
>>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)
>
>-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
>-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one
>
>Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
>ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
>frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
>I've recieved it.
>
>Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!


> tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...

Should be: e:\cd\i386 enter

The correct command in dos to change directories is "cd". 'Change
directories'

Example c:\cd\windows enter
c:\windows cd\i386 enter

I would wait for the new drive,install the OS on that.Then put the old
drive in the external case,then recover your data.

As for your no access problem;
If the drive is formatted in NTFS, Win 98 and dos can't see or read
it.
They can only read FAT16 and FAT32 partions.They also can't read long
file names.
NTFS on the otherhand,can read a FAT partition.

On 2 Sep 2005 13:40:15 -0700, "Pretzelz" <cryptfarm******.com> wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
>drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
>know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
>write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
>problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
>missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
>error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.
>
>Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
>creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
>need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
>£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
>on the net, in the event I need to.
>
>I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
>laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
>indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
>a big Phew!!
>
>However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
>hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
>write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
>and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
>want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
>working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
>case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
>of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
>like this...)
>
>I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
>use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
>most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
>external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
>as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
>does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
>It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
>took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
>knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
>with it, that I know of.
>
>So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
>option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
>so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
>work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.
>
>So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
>to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
>old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
>cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
>sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
> no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
>this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
>problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
>folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
>run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)
>
>So... I'm clueless.
>
>This is what I've got to work with:
>
>>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)
>
>-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
>-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one
>
>Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
>ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
>frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
>I've recieved it.
>
>Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!


> tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...

Should be: e:\cd\i386 enter

The correct command in dos to change directories is "cd". 'Change
directories'

Example c:\cd\windows enter
c:\windows cd\i386 enter

I would wait for the new drive,install the OS on that.Then put the old
drive in the external case,then recover your data.

As for your no access problem;
If the drive is formatted in NTFS, Win 98 and dos can't see or read
it.
They can only read FAT16 and FAT32 partions.They also can't read long
file names.
NTFS on the otherhand,can read a FAT partition.

Hello,

Do you get any particular system file error? I do know that in some cases
that if the registry gets too big the hive could be become corrupt. Try
using Windows /R and rebuild the hive.

Cheers

Brad
"Pretzelz" <cryptfarm******.com> wrote in message
news:1125693615.452102.79850@o13g2000cwo.googlegro ups.com...
Hi everyone,

Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.

Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
on the net, in the event I need to.

I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
a big Phew!!

However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
like this...)

I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
with it, that I know of.

So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.

So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)

So... I'm clueless.

This is what I've got to work with:

>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)

-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one

Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
I've recieved it.

Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!

Hello,

Do you get any particular system file error? I do know that in some cases
that if the registry gets too big the hive could be become corrupt. Try
using Windows /R and rebuild the hive.

Cheers

Brad
"Pretzelz" <cryptfarm******.com> wrote in message
news:1125693615.452102.79850@o13g2000cwo.googlegro ups.com...
Hi everyone,

Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.

Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
on the net, in the event I need to.

I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
a big Phew!!

However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
like this...)

I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
with it, that I know of.

So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.

So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)

So... I'm clueless.

This is what I've got to work with:

>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)

-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one

Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
I've recieved it.

Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!

Hello,

Do you get any particular system file error? I do know that in some cases
that if the registry gets too big the hive could be become corrupt. Try
using Windows /R and rebuild the hive.

Cheers

Brad
"Pretzelz" <cryptfarm******.com> wrote in message
news:1125693615.452102.79850@o13g2000cwo.googlegro ups.com...
Hi everyone,

Really need your support. I posted a few days back about a laptop hard
drive of mine corrupting. I'm not an expert in these matters so I don't
know how corrupt it is. Basically during a windows session it reports
write cache delay problems and then soon just restarted, then it had
problems booting up, then it reported config.sys and other things
missing, and now when i turn the laptop on it just says: a disk read
error occurred, press ctrl alt del to restart.

Now then - like a silly boy i have never backed up my hdd. I am very
creative, and I have ALOT of data and personal stuff (photos etc) I
need to keep. It's really important. But if possibly I don't wanna pay
£250 to get my HDD retrieved (if possible) by such a company I found
on the net, in the event I need to.

I stuck in a self-booting Knoppix CD I created a few years back. My
laptop booted it up fine, and from there I was even allowed to see that
indeed I could still access all the data on my hard drive! So that was
a big Phew!!

However, now I'm stuck. I don't know how to really use Knoppix, and my
hard drive does not have writer permissions. I found a menu to allow
write permissions, but it warned me of possible data loss to the hdd,
and told me it wouldn't do it- so I thought ok, fair enough i don't
want to really touch the hdd, just back it up somehow, or get it
working again. It's a 2.5" hdd by the way - I bought an external USB
case for it, but the drive won't work in that, with its current state
of corruption. (I tried accessing the laptop hdd from my desktop PC
like this...)

I can't take the Knoppix CD out the drive during a session, so I can't
use the apparent CD-burning wizard to make a few vital backups of the
most important files. I can't use a floppy drive as I don't have an
external one to plug into my laptop. I can't use a USB storage device,
as when I plug this in (or startup the laptop with this in) Knoppix
does nothing with it, or i don't know how or where to access it from.
It doesn't show up anyway. I do happen to have another laptop, so I
took the hdd out of that, put it in the USB case and tried this with
knoppix (as a potential backup device) but again Knoppix does nothing
with it, that I know of.

So then I thought, stick in the XP cd and see if I can do its Repair
option. Well the laptop won't boot up the XP CD (has no prob with 98)
so I stuck in 98 instead. - By the way, even the Win98 setup won't
work, reports it cannot read or write to the drive.

So then I used the Win98 CD to access dos. Once in dos, it doesn't want
to access the C drive. This is strange, because when I tested dos on my
old laptop I also couldn't access C either... anyway, with the DOS
cdrom drivers loaded, I inserted the WinXP setup CD, did DIR to make
sure it was working, and tried to navigate to the e:/I386/ directory...
no luck, even though it was listed by doing DIR a moment ago. Now,
this in itself I have done at other peoples houses and had the same
problem with. Infact I haven't been able to navigate to ANY of the
folders listed on the CD drive. So I'm stuck, I can't even attempt to
run the WinXP dos setup file... (or install, whatever its called)

So... I'm clueless.

This is what I've got to work with:

>Laptop (no FDD) This has the corrupt drive I want to save
>old laptop (has FDD) Don't really wanna run Knoppix on it
>Desktop PC (only two USB sockets, PS2 stopped working?!)

-external HDD USB case for laptop HDD's (corrupt HDD doesn't work)
-waiting on: bew 80gb laptop HDD to replace the corrupt one

Any suggestions folks? I'm in limbo at the moment - and yet I can see
ALL my work and data on the corrupt HDD through Knoppix, so its kinda
frustrating... I just wanna get it all moved over to the new HDD once
I've recieved it.

Thanks guys - your help would be much appreciated!!