Unable to see anything in the harddisk

[Huamin]

Hi,

For that, one harddisk can be detected by the motherboard, but further we cannot see anything inside it, what softwares can we use for copying the contents from that to another normal disk?

[Mike567]

Knoppix for a nice GUI.

or use a dos disk for command line.

[Huamin]

Is there a stable place for downloading 'Knoppix' (I tried but I failed to get that from Knoppix.com)?

Any other ways? The issue is, I can't see anything inside that.

[Boris]

Knoppix LiveCD from here :-

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

[Huamin]

Hi Boris,

How about the detailed steps to setup this? And also the way to configure (see) other harddisks?

Is it by Knoppix, we're able to see the disks in different formats, like FAT 32, NTFX?

(I tried, but it seems not so easy to setup Knoppix; very very UN-userfriendly!)

Anyway, which file did you download from the links, that worked properly for you? And how about its size?

[Seshomaru Samma]

Knoppix is a Live CD - this means you have to download the ISO file and then burn it onto a CD as an "image". You will need a special software for that . Nero can do it but it costs money. InfraRecorder (http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/?page_id=5) will do it for free.

Then you have to restart your computer and boot from the CD , you need to set the "boot from CD" option in your BIOS menu. To get into the BIOS settings, you usually have to press one of these keys during boot-up: Escape, F1, F2, F12, or Delete. Usually your computer will tell you which key to use.

Go to the link provided by Boris. Click on the big "DOWNLOAD" icon. Choose a location near you. Accept the license agreement. Choose the "Knoppix CD" directory and then download this file: KNOPPIX_V5.1.0CD-2006-12-30-EN.iso

Knoppix can see many different formats, including FAT32 and NTFS .It is a very useful tool to have and can be used to save your system or even as a temporary OS.

[Huamin]

Thanks so much Seshomaru!

Is it the CD is bootable, after we've un-suppressed the ISO file and have written all of its contents (by directly copying them) to that CD?

But actually it seemed there's a hardware problem in that harddisk, then it leaded to not be able to read from that (inside which WinXP resides). Any advices?

[Huamin]

Furthermore, what is the difference, between using Knoppix and using other Norton rescue tool for trying to view the contents of the harddisk. Pls advise!

[Huamin]

Does anyone have any ideas for this?

[MANEMAN]

Does anyone have any ideas for this?

Questions and suggestions

(1) Which Norton rescue tool are you talking about ? If it does not have the ability to"See" the files on another HDD that is the difference between it and Knoppix.

(2) Set the drive up as a slave and try to read it in another computer ?

(3) Try Active@Bootdisk

(4) Try ERD Commander

(5) Try any Linux CD

(6) If the HDD is damaged you may never get the files off. (Refrigeration has been used in the past with some success, last ditch attempt usually though.)

(7) Knoppix - You have to download the ISO file and then burn it onto a CD as an "image". as you have been told, - Not directly copy it to a CD as you have said.

(8) What Operating System are you using ?

(9) You sound a little unsure about what you are doing. Have you got somebody with computer experience who could help you ?

(10) Is the disk you are trying to read the files from the Master ? (does it contain the operating system?)

[Huamin]

Thanks Maneman.

I fully understand what you've said. For burning that CD, of course I use UltraISO for uncompressing the files. But I'm only asking if I should then write ALL OF THE UNCOMPRESSED CONTENTS to a CD for making a bootable one (since there're more than 4 GB for that).

[Seshomaru Samma]

Thanks Maneman.

I fully understand what you've said. For burning that CD, of course I use UltraISO for uncompressing the files. But I'm only asking if I should then write ALL OF THE UNCOMPRESSED CONTENTS to a CD for making a bootable one (since there're more than 4 GB for that).

are you referring to the knoppix iso ? it should be less than 750MB

you should NOT uncompress (ISO files often appear like ZIP files on Windows - do not unzip it)

you should burn the ISO file as an "image" - use InfraRecorder (link in my previous post)

[Huamin]

One more silly question is: do we need to format the CD before we put the image by InfraRecorder?

[Seshomaru Samma]

if you use a new blank CD then you don't need to.

if you use a rewritable CD with stuff on it, you will need to erase it because Knoppix will fill most of the CD