So I have a laptop w/ windows on it that won't boot. I am trying to boot up knoppix and generate a directory list (dumped to a usb key) that way he can tell me what he wants pulled off of the hard disk. I have tried multiple live boot distro's (Helix and Knoppix) and each time I get the same behavior.

I mount the usb key as read write, I mount the NTFS partition (tried both as read and read/write) and then I issue the command "ls -lR > /media/Path/To/USBKEYFile". I know the path to the usb key is correct. I get "ls: reading directory ./Program Files/Folder: Input/output error". I tried this same "ls -lR" w/ redirection to a file on my home desktop (debian) and another server (centos) and it works fine so I think my syntax is just fine. Is there some redirection thing w/ live boot that I don't understand?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have figured out it is only a few specific directories that are causing this. And it isn't just "ls" that chokes, if I do a "cp -R /folder /usbkey" it gives me "Input/output error" as well. What could do this to only certain folders?