I've used windows for most of my life, I know quite a bit of Mac OS X. I would now like to load Linux on my old frankinstien PC. I have Red Hat Enterprise Workstation, Knoppix, and Linspire. I currently have a corrupted install of Windows XP pro on the 80GB HDD and Red Hat loaded on the 20GB HDD.

One thing I would like to be able to do if possible is to access some of the pictures/music that I have saved on the 80GB HDD (in NTSF format) from Linux because Windows will not currently boot and I don't want to risk loosing them if I reinstalled windows.

When I ran Knoppix from the CD I was able to view the .jpeg files and mp3's but not move them on to the 20GB HDD (befor I loaded Red Hat on it), so I'm assuming there away to access NTSF with Linux.

I really have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to trying to install programs in Red Hat for instance I downloaded Yahoo Messanger and could get it to work.

So I guess my questions are is the any way to access and move the .jpeg and mp3 files off the windows partition into the Linux partition?

And is there a set of steps somewhere to help me figure out how to install things like a media player for .wmv and .mov files, yahoo messanger and msn messanger?

Oh yeah and how do I change the screen resolution in Red Hat? Its @800x600 right now but everytime I try and change it a message pops up telling me to restart Xwindow or something ( I can't rember exactly I'm at work now)

ok the 80GB and 20GB are on the same computer right?

try mounting the corrupted windows partition in red hat

while in the commandline
type "ls /dev/hd*"
one of those would be your windows partition

when you know what one it is try
mount -t ntfs(If I'm wrong someone tell me) /dev/hda2 (or whatever it is) /windows (or wherever you want to mount it

this isn't the only way though

what happens when u try and boot to windows? i mean, how is the windows partition messed up, what message do you get [or not get] that tells you its screwed up?

sounds like you know how to install stuff after all? :P

you couldnt MOVE the files from your windows (NTFS) partition to windows because it isnt [by default] supported with your linux kernal, probably. you can absolutly copy [cp] the files to your linux partition if youd like.

well the windows partition simply restarts itself after the intial Bios stuff runs I don't even get to the windows splash screen. I do get a screen asking if i want to start in Safe mode (with a coulple differnt options for that) or start from last known good config or start normally, but no matter which one I chose it gose blank and then restarts a second later. This started happening because Windows would restart itself out of the blue every once in a while but only when I was online or more correctly surfing the web ( I have Comcast Cable so I'm always online). I attempted to reinstall windows and part way through the install the it came to the point its at now, I havent been able to get past that screen with out it restarting. So I loaded linux in hopes to save some files that I wanted mostly .jpegs and .mp3s so I could start with a freash slate in windows cus I'm not sure what went wrong. Thanks for the help so far guys this seems like a great place for answers.

never experienced an install with windows that would just crash.
try booting to the windows install cd, after it does its loading (takes like 2 minutes or so) and itll give you the main menu (ie: install, repair, exit, or something similar) press R, i believe, for repair.. itll load to a console and ask for the number of the install that you want to repair, and listed the installed windows OS'.. so most likely youll just need to press 1 and enter. itll ask for the admin password, be sure to type it in properly, you get 3 chances then it will exit and youll have to load it all again. if the password works, itll bring you to a command prompt. type 'fixmbr' and itll prompt you to type yes, do so and press enter. itll then say it is completed or whatever, then remove the cd and CTRL + ALT + DEL to reboot. see if windows will boot.

if the windows way wont work at all, you most definetly, as mentioned, can copy your files from the ntfs partition onto a linux partition. have you attempted this?

I will try to boot from the windows CD again. Although just for curiosity's sake I would like to know where I go in linux to view the file on the NTFS drive? I guess I'd have to mount the drive in to linux??? I tried

but it didn't seem to work. Btw I'm now using Linspire instead of Red Hat it seems to be a bit more user friendly.

open up a terminal window
type 'su' to log in as root, and enter the root password.

create a directory in the /mnt folder where you will be mounting the windows/ntfs partition: run the program 'gedit' (which im sure is included in linspire) and load the file /etc/fstab (filesystem table), do this by typing this command: add a new line to the end of this file: for /dev/hdX#: replace the X with the letter of the harddrive that your windows partition is on. if you only have one hard drive, it will be 'a', if not, it might be 'b'. also, replace '#' with the number that your ntfs partition is on that hard drive (ie: 1,2,3...). make sure to 'save' the file, then you can close it.

note:
if you dont want to guess what partition (X, or #) the NTFS one is, use the cfdisk program. (this is probably a much better idea, try this instead of guessing) type: or (if cfdisk doesnt work, just use fdisk, i forget which one it is)
it should then display you all the partitions on the specified hard drive (a or b). check for one that has a NTFS partition, and the number that goes with it will be the one that you put in the /etc/fstab file. for example, if /dev/hdb8 has a type of NTFS, then add /dev/hdb8 to your fstab file instead of /dev/hdX#.

now mount everything that is specified in your /etc/fstab file. use this command: it will either work, or the last or last few lines of output it gives will tell you that your ntfs partition that your trying to mount isnt found.. so either your 'X' or the '#'s are wrong. this will probably just take trial and error to figure out (if you dont use cfdisk). if it does not give errors, browse to your /mnt/windows folder and all your ntfs partition should be there and you can then copy anything you want.

let me know if it works

Thanks so much for all your help I went and looked at the /mnt folder and discovered that the windows (NTSF) drive was already there. But thanks to your help Nadjor I was pointed in the right direction to find it.


Thanks again.

your welcome..
ya, i thought about that when i was posting but didnt mention it: i was sure a user-friendly distro (ESPECIALLY linspire) would have auto-mounted any windows partitions.