Oops, "lost" Fat32

Klia · 02-19-2006, 09:30 PM

Running dual boot Breezy/Xp on a secondary machine to learn my way before doing same on primary machine. Seperate router problems have prevented any networking attempts yet. Then yesterday I broke windows on the main machine so I'm writing this on the backup.
Decided to learn how to transfer files between windows and Ububtu in case I can't properly recover windows on the other machine. Since I'd created a Fat32 partition during the initial installation I went to disc manager to try and access it. It was listed as disabled and nothing happened when I tried to activate it.
I opened the command window and attempted to edit(?) the mount directory. Somehow I moved, or at least changed the path to the drive, since when I tried to mount it I got "not found" and it no longer showed up in disc manager either.
Besides being an obvious newbie, I'm also not too bright since I failed to make any notes of what I was doing so I might be able to backtrack, guess I was still trying to think of a way to fix my other computer without loosing my data, yea, only half backed up.
I'd found some directions to mount the Fat partition on another site this a.m. but must've copied them wrong. I think that's how I broke windows too so if anyone can help real simple instructions would be appreciated. I promise to write them down.
Thanks!

aysiu · 02-19-2006, 10:05 PM

First of all, the terminal is Applications > Accessories > Terminal in Gnome, and it's in KMenu > System > Konsole in KDE. Once you open that up, that's where you type commands.

When you have it open, type this command:

Code:

sudo fdisk -l

It'll list all the partitions you have. One should be listed as FAT32. For the sake of this example, let's say it's /dev/hda2. Every time you see that bolded in the following instructions, replace it with the actual location.

Next, type these commands:

Code:

sudo umount /dev/hda2
sudo mkdir /windows_recovery
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup
sudo nano /etc/fstab

If there's already a line with /dev/hda2 in it, replace it with this one (if there's no line with /dev/hda2, just create it):

Code:

/dev/hda2 /windows_recovery vfat iocharset=utf8,umask=000 0 0

Then save (control-x), confirm (y), and exit (Enter). Finally, type

Code:

sudo mount -a
exit

Now if you go to the /windows_recovery folder, you should see your FAT partition.

Klia · 02-19-2006, 11:00 PM

That was quick, thanks. I'll copy and paste your commands as written and let you know results, probably won't have time till tomorrow eve. though, didn't really expect such a quick reply.
I'm sorry about my terminology. I've spent most of the day trying to figure out how to fix windows (yea, probably not worth it, but it's become a challenge) and got my vocabulary mixed up.
Guess I better get on the ball and learn more about Linux so I won't need anything else.

Klia · 02-20-2006, 10:42 PM

Thanks Allot, worked as advertised.
Guess I still have a lot of homework to do though.
One last related question, will the same command sequence work to enable access to the windows NTFS partition or will a change be needed for "read only"?
Any further questions will hopefully be on a new subject so I'll open a new thread next time. I also plan to spend more time studying the Linux and Ubuntu user guides I've got bookmarked.
Thanks again.