[SOLVED] What software is good to recover a Windows hard drive using Linux desktop?

headly21 · 06-06-2011, 09:24 PM

I need to attach a failing Windows laptop hard drive, from a Dell laptop, to my Fedora desktop, using a 2.5 to 3.5 IDE adapter. Which Linux programs are good for recovering Windows data using Linux software? I will need to put this data back onto a new laptop hard drive eventually.
Thanks!

teckk · 06-06-2011, 09:43 PM

Is the hard drive still working? Is it just a file system error? Or a bad drive that has many bad sectors?

If the file system is still working then mount it and copy the files off of it that you want.

If the hard drive has mechanical or heat related problems then you may not get the data off of it.

You can try to put the drive into the freezer in a bag, after you take it out mount it quickly and try to recover some data.

You can try ddrescue, which is a long way to recover data but will get about as much as you can.

zrdc28 · 06-06-2011, 11:33 PM

Download puppy linux from distrowatch.com, use the live cd to boot. You must go into setup and have the cd as the boot. When puppy comes up there will be the partician at the lower left of screen, Just open up sda or etc and move files to wherever you want. When you boot puppy it will load to ram then you can remove the cd and use it or a thumb drive.

jefro · 06-07-2011, 03:22 PM

I'd use the freezer as last choice. If you bring it out and humidity gets in, that may be the last time it works. We used to have hot cold chambers but never when from cold to room temps. We went slowly up.

Might try testdisk, or gnu ddrescue or ddrescue. Somewhat different. http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Ddrescue

Might look at ultimate boot cd, it has testdisk on it.

Almost any live cd can be booted and usually if you have enough ram you can download testdisk or other app to run.

headly21 · 06-08-2011, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teckk

Is the hard drive still working? Is it just a file system error? Or a bad drive that has many bad sectors?

If the file system is still working then mount it and copy the files off of it that you want.

If the hard drive has mechanical or heat related problems then you may not get the data off of it.

You can try to put the drive into the freezer in a bag, after you take it out mount it quickly and try to recover some data.

You can try ddrescue, which is a long way to recover data but will get about as much as you can.

The Windows laptop hard drive doesn't seem to be mechanically faulty (there aren't any strange noises when it's running), so I'm hoping to just mount it under Fedora and use whatever software available to copy the important files off of it. It just won't boot into Windows by itself in the laptop. That's kind of why I wanted to know what software to use, because I assume that the drive does not need to boot in order to grab data off of it using another OS.

headly21 · 06-08-2011, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

Might try testdisk, or gnu ddrescue or ddrescue. Somewhat different. http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Ddrescue

Might look at ultimate boot cd, it has testdisk on it.

I think I'll try ddrescue first. It sounds like just what I need.
Thanks, everyone!