Windows XP Maxtor Setup for file recovery through Knoppix

[deja]

Hello,

I've had fun couple of days.....

Here's the deal... my HD on a Windows XP system of about 5 years
started to go south (bad). I managed to save the more important files
to CD, but of course did not get them all.

I bought a new 200G Maxtor drive and installed it. During the
installation I noticed that MaxBlast4 could read my crashed HD even
though XP could not. So I started to think about other solutions.

I loaded up Knoppix and it had complete access as well - GREAT!

But that has cascaded into a host of other issues.

It seems I can only install the Maxtor drive in the default setting of
NTFS at 137G. I'm okay with that, but Knoppix can not write to that.
No problem, I'll just create a couple of small 32G Fat32 partitions.

This seemed to work. Knoppix was happy with it. However XP doesn't
like it quite as much. It actually doesn't complain - it just doesn't
see the partitians the same.

I can write in XP to the partitian, and I can write in Knoppix to it as
well. But the data they write can not be seen by the other.

When I double checked the partitions with fdisk under Knoppix, this is
what I see:


Disk /dev/hda: 203.9 GB, 203928109056 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24792 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hda1 * 1 16709 134215011 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hda2 16710 24792 64926697+ f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/hda5 16710 20600 31254426 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda6 20601 24491 31254426 b W95 FAT32
/dev/hda7 24492 24792 2417751 b W95 FAT32


What I want to accomplish is the ability to read/write to a partition
under both Knoppix and WindowsXP. That way I can copy my old drive to
the sharable partition under Knoppix and have it available under
WindowsXP.

Can someone give me some insite into how I can fix this partition
problem?

Thanks!
CF

 

[Peter]

Can someone give me some insite into how I can fix this partition

problem?

How did you create partitions ? From XP or from Knoppix?
If you have used Knoppix, try to recreate them from XP.
Try to use two primary partitions (of 32GB each) first to recover
your dying disk.

 

[Eric Gisin]

I see Linux fdisk is still brain-damaged. There is no "Win95 FAT32". Does it still report spurious
cylinder errors for disk larger than 8GB?

Start with no partitions (zero MBR) and boot Win XP. If it shows 137GB, you cannot go past that
(use rest for ext2).

Any recent Linux kernel support over 137GB, but I do not know the details.

I would create a partition that matches your old drive's, and use dd_rescue to copy the old to the
new. You probably had a bad sector in the MFT, making in unmountable in XP.

 

[deja]

I created the partitions first using the Maxtor tool. Then I've tried
various ways at getting the extended partitions setup.

When I did the "advanced" setup with Maxtor it lets me select size and
type, but then it forces some sort of overlay to be used. This
resulted in not being able to boot from the CD. So I stayed with the
default which of course formats in NTFS.

I setup the extended patition with Knoppix. First I set up everything
(logical drives and formatting), then I tried just setting up the
extended partition. This allowed me to use the Disk Tools in WinXP to
layout the logical partitions, but doing so destroyed the parition
table and now I have to start over for about the 50th time.

It really shouldn't be this difficult. It's a brand new drive. XP can
handle the entire drive if formated under NTFS (200g). Knoppix can
setup the entire drive as well - I just can't write to NTFS partitions
under Knoppix which is kinda imporant when you're trying to copy files.

WinXP does not like the use of two primary partitions - at least not
with this drive.

Would installing Sevice Pack 2 before making HD mods help?

Thanks!
CF

 

[Peter]

I created the partitions first using the Maxtor tool. Then I've tried

various ways at getting the extended partitions setup.

Why you need extended partitions?

When I did the "advanced" setup with Maxtor it lets me select size and
type, but then it forces some sort of overlay to be used. This
resulted in not being able to boot from the CD. So I stayed with the
default which of course formats in NTFS.

OK. Lesson learned.

I setup the extended patition with Knoppix. First I set up everything
(logical drives and formatting), then I tried just setting up the
extended partition. This allowed me to use the Disk Tools in WinXP to
layout the logical partitions, but doing so destroyed the parition
table and now I have to start over for about the 50th time.

I would create partitions using WinXP.

It really shouldn't be this difficult. It's a brand new drive. XP can
handle the entire drive if formated under NTFS (200g).

WinXP SP1 or SP2 only.

Knoppix can
setup the entire drive as well - I just can't write to NTFS partitions
under Knoppix which is kinda imporant when you're trying to copy files.

WinXP does not like the use of two primary partitions - at least not
with this drive.

Why not? As far as I know you can put up to four primary partitions
on one hard disk.

Would installing Sevice Pack 2 before making HD mods help?

That might be a selution. But I advise to create a slipstreamed WinXP
SP2 bootable CD first. Use that CD for final XP installation and 137GB
barrirer will be gone.

I would attempt this whole excercise by:
1. Disconnect original HD, connect new HD
2. Boot WinXP CD, create small NTFS partition (20GB), install WinXP.
3. Using WinXP, create two FAT32 (32GB each) partitions.
4. Shutdown, connect in addition original HD
5. Boot Knoppix, transfer files from original HD to two FAT32 partitions
on the new HD
6. Shutdown, disconnect old HD
7. Boot WinXP, check files in FAT32 partitions, install SP2
8. Create new NTFS partition to fill the rest of the 200GB drive
9. Move recovered files to new partition
10. Remove FAT32 partitions
11. Create slipstreamed WinXP SP2 CD
12. Reinstall WinXP using WinXP SP2 CD without removing last
NTFS partition