Windows/Linux Dual Boot Harddrive Failure
 

I have a 40gig harddrive with two partitions. One Windows XP, the other Fedora Core1. Both are 20 gig each. Recently Windows crashed and will not boot into it anymore, but Linux works fine. I want to know if there is a way to save my files on the Windows partition through Linux before I resort to reformatting and losing them. I am very new to Linux and would need very basic instruction.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pretty easy to do. You need to mount the windows partitions and then copy the stuff over. Saw a thread earlier on how to do it but can't find it now. Sorry. The permanent mount settings would be in your /etc/fstab file. (or sommet like that). Or just do a manual mount at the cli. (Dunno the correct syntax as I'm @ work atm). Do "man mnt" at the cli and it should tell you the syntax. (B & F to scroll back and forward)

If you re-install winders it will overwrite your mbr and stop you from loading Linux. Well it did for me a while ago. But I suppose you can get round that by re-installing the boot loader, but I ain't gone down that path.

hi there

why don't u mount them in ur linux partiton and save ur files

also check out some tools at ultimateboocd.com

regards

Not to be rude but when I said I was new I meant straight from the womb, I am afriad step by step directions will be needed and you must assume I know nothing.

If anyone can help me into infancy I would be very grateful.

necrophagist; try http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX
from table of contents open section installation then section on partition & boot. open(expand) each section & subsection for detailed guidance information (step by step). which ever os u have if bought cd package did it have the user manual & reference manual? those also have detailed guidance instructions (step by step), other wise buy them for future reference.

hi there

the below is extract from a help page i had written for my LUG
----------------
First of all you need to see which partition you want to mount
YOU can see that by running the following command at bash# prompt

#fdisk /dev/hda

If your hard disk is use

Primary master hda
Primary slave hdb
Secondary master hdc
Secondary slave hdd

If you use wrong device then you may get error message such as
"Cannot open device hdc"
If command is successful you get

[root@gaurav qmail]# fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 4865.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
And could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help):


At this prompt run ‘p’ single character to see your partition table

Here is the result of my partition table


Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 40.0 GB, 40020664320 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 4865 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 561 4506201 b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda2 562 3939 27133785 f Win95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/hda3 3940 4385 3582495 a5 FreeBSD
/dev/hda4 4386 4865 3855600 83 Linux
/dev/hda5 562 1096 4297356 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda6 1097 1606 4096543+ b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda7 1607 3008 11261533+ b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda8 3009 3872 6940048+ b Win95 FAT32
/dev/hda9 3873 3939 538146 b Win95 FAT32


You can easily recognize which drive you want to mount
Here I have my windows partitions as

devices Windows Partitions

/dev/hda1 C
/dev/hda5 D
/dev/hda6 E
/dev/hda7 F
/dev/hda8 G
/dev/hda9 H


Do not confuse with /dev/hda2
It is my extended partition you cannot mount that whole partition but you can only mount the logical drives in this partition

Here say if I want mount my E drive in Linux
I need to have an empty folder somewhere to mount.
We can make a folder anywhere but as going by the convention we make all the folders and mount them in
/mnt folder
So, go to the mnt folder under root directory
Make a new folder in mnt directory say win_e

If you want to mount it temporarily (till the system is running)
You can mount it by the following command

#mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/win_e

The syntax of the command is easy to interpret
/dev/hda6 gives the device you want to mount
/mnt/win_e gives the path of folder you want to mount

Now if you want to mount your partitions your drives permanently you can do that by making an entry in /etc/fstab file
This file is read each time the system boots.
And so it mounts the partitions listed in this drive
You can add an entry to this file as under corresponding headings

/dev/hda9 /mnt/win_h auto defaults 0 0

the above line refers to
/dev/hda9 gives the device
/mnt/win_h gives the path of the folder
auto tells to detect the filesystem automatically

defaults these two basically deal with the type of mounting we are
0 0 performing and where we want to dump the partiton (related to backing of ext2 filesystem)
-----------------


regards

My Linux Dual boot
 

I have quite recently done much of the sameness with my computer - AMD xp2600+, 512DDR, 1x20Gb 1x30Gb HDD.
The 20Gb hard drive is split into two - XP, mandrake 9.0 - and the boot up works fine for both. (with negotiable glitches in M9)
The 30Gb hard drive is for downloads and music etc... (only visible in XP)

As above, the problem i mainly have is the ability to see my Windows discs from the Linux side, and vice versa from the XP side.

The above advice (masand) was very helpful but I have a question:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/newreply.php
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...wreply.php#Can I mount the windows partition and the 'downloads' drive - PERMANATLY - without losing data or boot capability?

Or...
 

I have quite recently done much of the sameness with my computer - AMD xp2600+, 512DDR, 1x20Gb 1x30Gb HDD.
The 20Gb hard drive is split into two - XP, mandrake 9.0 - and the boot up works fine for both. (with negotiable glitches in M9)
The 30Gb hard drive is for downloads and music etc... (only visible in XP)

As above, the problem i mainly have is the ability to see my Windows discs from the Linux side, and vice versa from the XP side.

The above advice (masand) was very helpful but I have a question:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/newreply.php#
http://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ewreply.php Can I mount the windows partition and the 'downloads' drive - PERMANATLY - without losing data or boot capability?

Bugger
 

Oh well - i have another question - how do the smilies work?

Is it... like this?

:Pengy:

hi there

did u put an entry for that in ur /etc/fstab file ,as i have mentioned in my above post

regards

The Fear
 

I haven't actually tried it yet but the explanation sounds pretty good and i copied to notepad for easy reference when i get home from work...

Im simply worried that i'll manage to mount the drive and i'll boot windows to find that i cant access my 15Gb of music and video... all of which would be a MISSION to re-rip.

Just want to know if mounting an XP disc in Linux (mand. 9.0) will make the disc unreadable to XP. or worse, will it auto format or something silly like that? just wanna read and write to it, not re-format it.

Thus, my next question is...... :study: .......how do i modify what you have previously posted to make drives read AND write mounted? do i need to be root or can i set the permissions.

I've used DOS and windoes for years but created this dual boot over the weekend and don't really know much yet, so an idiots guide would be preferred :-p

Cheers guys - keep up the good wor!k!

Also
 

Also... the 30Gb drive is 'downloads' and im sure it used to be an 80gb drive... however i have more on the drive than i can fit onto the other drive (to backup) - what XP programs do you know of that will allow me to resize the partitions so as not to lose all my data, only lose the 'unpartitioned space' either side and merge this into the total drive size?

:tisk: IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT I DO NOT LOSE DATA!!!!!! i'm sure you understand :tisk:

hi there

u won't loose ur data if u doot play with fdisk on linux without knowledge
and
u can proceed to mount that in read only mode,but u won't be able to make any changes to that drive
or u use a different account in linux with read only rights to the user

regards