why was my rh9.0 broken ,and how to retrieve the data on linux?
 

1 fat32 (window 2000pro)

hda6 ext3 (rh 9.0)
hda7 swap
8 fat32

I have been installed a program called "explore2fs". Everything went fine. I have copied a file from my linux partition. Then I set "write support" and write a file to linux partiton. Evenrything was fine so far. I tried to play an rmvb file and it's OK. Later, I got message "access violation" but I paied no attention. Later I have uninstalled the "Virtual Drivers" from my Windows. After rebooting, the grub command line appears on the screen without the menu, seems has been destroyed. Because I have forgotten the partition where I have my Red Hat Linux installed, I tried "root(hd0,2)", but the following "setup(hd0)" command has failed for times. Later I booted up my computer with a DOS boot disk, and executed "fdisk /mbr". Later on, I use "Power Quest" to check the partitions and it says errors in partition table. So I chose to boot up with Red Hat Installation disk, selected F5 and entered the "rescue" mode. As long as I went up to the partitioning step, I saw my ext3 partition has disappeared, left a "linux native". I selected "edit", then "mount point /", partition type ext3, pressed "OK". It prompts that old data are destroyed, and I know I made mistakes. Then I reboot my machine with Red Hat CD, typed "linux rescue" and entered rescue mode. When mounting /mnt/sysimage I got message "you don't have any linux partitions" and I selected "skip". Then in the shell, I typed "chroot /mnt/sysimage" and got prompt: can not find /mnt/sysimage

I have really important data on my ext3 partitions, so I'm just wondering if there's any possibility that I can retrieve those data? It's would be wonderful if the partition can be fixed.

Thank you.

what can help me?

Well i'm kinda new to this but maybe a live distro such as phlak could access that partition you can run httpd right from phlank and download your files locally.. I hope that idea helps!!

Try knoppix bootable CD to see if it can see the ext3 partiton and get your files...

Important not tho. Windows is crud. Never ever let windows have access to your linux partition. It's not safe. Use a shared FAT drive or something...

Hope knoppix will see the drive, but windows also has a habit of overwriting the partitions, so it's best to keep win and linux on separate drives if possible, or put linux in the first partitions and win on the later ones (with XP).