data repair
 

I used PartitionMagic to remove my linux distro (so I could do a fresh install on another hdd) and move/resize my NTFS partitions. After doing that, I had to "repair" XP so it would would boot. Now, XP won't read all of the data on one of my partitions.

I have tried to use checkdisk, but it consistently freezes after x number of errors. I have also tried to repair it using TestDisk, but it is having trouble because it reports the hdd as smaller than it really is.

The last thing I tried really blew my mind. Knoppix (LiveCD) reads the partition perfectly fine, as if there were no errors. How can a Linux distro read an NTFS partition perfectly fine and Windows can't when Microsoft is the one who created the NTFS specs and wouldn't release them?

I was just wondering if there is a way ensure that there are no errors and fix them if there were. I tried to run fsck, but I guess there is no ntfs support for fsck yet. Is there anything else I could try? Is NTFS write support pretty stable in linux yet?

Any suggestions are appreciated. The next thing I was going to try was to reinstall/upgrade my XP using an XP with SP2 disk.

Thanks.

Welcome to LQ.

Write support is getting better but I'm not sure I would use it if there is doubt about the partition. You would probably be better copying the data off the partition when running knoppix and copying it back under windows after reformatting the partition.