Writing to NTFS partition

IronMan

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

I have Windows XP HE installed. I kept getting a blue screen upon loading, so attempted to do a repair install. This was also unsuccessful as I get a blue screen here too. I have 3 partitions, Windows is installed on C:. I now wish to format the C: drive and do a fresh install of Windows. However I have documents and profiles on the C: drive that I wish to copy to one of the other partitions before I format. I do not have a CD burner so my options are limited.

I booted up a Knoppix Live CD, and it can see the partitions. However when I try and copy the Documents and Settings Folder to one of the other NTFS partitions, I am told I cannot do so, and that writing to an NTFS partition from within Linux can cause data loss. I tried changing the read/write permissions in Knoppix, and this was also unsuccessful.

So is there any way for me to copy this folder over to another partition from within Linux? Or is there a simpler and easier way for me to keep a copy of this folder? My knowledge of Linux is very limited, and my Windows installation is completely botched. If I change to root in Knoppix can I then copy this file in C: and paste to one of the other partitions? Could I just use a USB key and copy from the partition within Linux to the key, and then restore it when I get Windows back up and running? What file format would this be in?

Sorry for all the questions, any help would be much appreciated.

joePC

If you have nothing on one of the other partitions then do an install on it, then access the C drive from the new install and copy over. Long but would work,

Also ERD commander would do the job, have a look @ their site.

NTFSDOS Pro boot disc would give you read / write access to the C: Partition form here you can copy files and folders from C: to other partitions. Basic DOS commands needed...

Also what is the blue screen error your getting?

Thanks joePC

slartibardfast

The C'T edition of knoppix includes captive-ntfs which can write to ntfs. Captive requires a number of ms system files which it can pull off your xp partition or download from ms.

You can only really get the C't edition of knoppix via bitorrent, but it is well worth it:

'Knoppix34-ct.iso'
http://www.boegenielsen.dk:6969/

Civilian_Target

At the moment, Knoppix doesn't support writing to NTFS partitions, because more than half the time it doesn't work and you lose everything. My suggestion would be to burn it if you have a CD writer (if you don't have 2 disc drives you'll need to load knoppix into the RAM to do this, if you don't have 512mb of RAM or a second drive you're bugarred). If not, format one of your partitions to FAT32 and move your stuff to it.

IronMan

The original blue screen I got was to do with a registry hive, I have had this problem before, but it was solved by installing service pack 1, which on this box I hadn't done yet. The install blue screen just lasts for a second all I got to see was Bad Pool area?? and a load of gibberish. Tried the repair function a few times but didn't work.

I had considered installing Windows to another partition but they have work related files on it (I know I should back up files but I didn't!). I also thought about resizing one of the other partitions and creating a new partition from the free space and installing Windows on to that. Having a read of some Linux forums, none of them recommend writing to an NTFS partiton with Knoppix as it uses an older version driver which more often than not causes problems.

If I could just back the data onto a USB key and then restore it when I did a clean install of Windows that would be brillant, have seen enough of XP's ****ty install screen to last me a lifetime. When I get this problem solved I'm going to install Linux and try use Windows as little as possible.

Cheers

slartibardfast

yes indeed the 2.4 linux kernels support for writing to NTFS is extremely harmful, so much so 2.6 dropped it completely for a new ntfs project, which can at this stage only 'over'write files, not change there size etc.

*however* captive-ntfs is different, it uses the same components(via reactos emulation) as windows uses to write to ntfs and as such is completely safe if a little slow.

the windows bluescreens you describe remind me of overclocking to much! maybe try prime95 and memtest86 to see if your system is 100% stable?

Although of course linux is the way to go!

Sir Random

Boot from a DOS floppy and use the DOS "copy" command
Syntax:
copy DRIVE\SOURCE FOLDER\*.* DRIVE\DESTINATION FOLDER\

e.g.
To copy all the files in C:\Docs to the folder \Backup, type:
copy C:\Docs\*.* \Backup

whosurpaddy

whenever i boot to linux i can never see any of my existing windows partitions. am i doing something wrong. im talking about mandrake 7.2 i think and also red hat 8.something

win partitions are fat 32 btw

IronMan

Sir Random, I have a DOS boot disk, but will that be able to copy files from one NTFS partition to another?

zAbbo

http://filemirrors.com/search.src?file=Knoppix34-ct.iso

IronMan

bazH that version of Knoppix worked a treat, got my files onto another partition and did a clean install of XP. Cheers everyone for your help.