Linux LiveCD?

So I'm having problems with my laptop.....


I'm going to re-post from this forum:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2528126#post2528126


Someone mentioned posting over here, and thats the extent of my knowledge...What is LiveCD, where do I acquire it and how do I use it?

 

You want a Linux LiveCD? You can try Knoppix: http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

 

I'm not real sure what I'm supposed to do with it

 

You burn the .ISO file to a blank CD and boot your computer from the disc rather than the hard drive.

 

Once you've burned your liveCD, you place it into your cd reader and, after making sure you will boot from Cd first (you might have to change an option in your bios) reboot your system.
You will boot a nice operating system that runs from Cd and will allow you to

1. save your precioous data to a usb pen/external drive/floppy disk/different partition/whatever
2. rearrange the partitions of your hard disk (but only after having saved your data) in order to move your less preciuos but bulky data on it
3. try to repair the OS, if you can or wipe the OS partition so that you can reinstall it from the ground up, leaving your precious and not so precious data on a different partition.

And, I would add, while in the process: add a couple of ext3 partition for a Linux install so that you won't need a liveCD anymore and you will be able to save your data on DVD next time the OS whose name I won't mention will chrash again.

 

how do you purpose i save my previous data? I can't access windows in any way save MS-Dos

 

most livecd has NTFS allowing you to access the data under your previous Windows installation.

 

When in Linux, you will see on your desktop the icons of one or more hard disks, named hda1, hda2, ... or sda1, sda2, ...
You can see what's inside the disks, or partitions, by clicking (or double clicking, depends on the distro) on them. Some distro require that you "mount" the partitions, prior to accessing their content (this is usally done in the GUI, by right clicking on their icons on the desktop, then choosing Action->mount, or simply Mount).

Once you have the window of the hard disk with your data open, and the window of the removable disk open on the desktop, you can simply drag your documents from the former to the latter.
I strongly advise you not write on NTFS partitions, though. Don't worry, all the distro I know come with write disabled for existing partitions and disks, except for the removable media so there is very little chanche you could screw up you system even more.

But, did you manage to get a working Linux desktop like this?

 

I did that and some Caldera DR-DOS stuff came up.....what am I supposed to do ? ><

 

if i straight up burn the iso as pure data it won't even boot off the disc either....it just goes to the start windows normally, safe mode, etc screen

 

You have to tell your CD burning software to "burn image".
Read the manual that came with your Cd burning software to see how to do that.

 

ahhhh alright I've got it booted up now...now i just need to read up on what to do...thanks

 

I'm trying to run TestDisk and I get the following error


"Testdisk need 25 lines to work..."

and then i have to quick out of the command console...I have my resolution the highest the Knoppix GUI will allow - I've googled the problem and a bunch of chinease websites come up so....anyone who speaks english know how to fix thix?

 

I think that all you need to do is to enlarge the console window. Drag one corner until you get more space. It should be easy to accomodate 25 lines of text.

I take it that you cannot access the partition with your documents on it, am I correct?

Please note that if the documents are vital to you (and it seems you have no backup for a 8 months' worth of data, naughty boy... ) you should consider buying an external disk and cloning your sick hard disk to it with dd (more info if and when needed).
Otherwise you might compromise your chances to recover your data by spoiling the partition table even more.
Another thing you should be aware of: if the problem with your disk is of physical nature, i.e. it is developing bad clusters, cloning it as soon as possible is imperative. Once it starts to develop bad clusters, it will go on until you literally see your data disappear under your eyes. You should turn on your system only for the least amount of time necessary to clone the bad disk.

It all depends how much valuable are the documents you want to recover.
Are they worth more than the $100 needed to get an external HD?