linux commands for retrieving data from bad sector infested drive

[czchrn7k]

Folks....
I'm using the Knoppix CD...There are a number of bad sectors on my slave drive...hdd...laptop hard drive.....I'm able to see the properties from the fdsik dev/hdd....Knoppix also has mounted the drive and I can get to open and view the folders....but I can't get to copy the folders onto the master drive...hda....please give me the linux commands at the shell in viewing folders...viewing files..and the copying of files and/or flders from the slave drive to the master drive....please ..if u know of anyway I can go around this ...please let me know as soon as possible.

 

[pweegar]

First off, if you have bad sectors on one of your hd's they need to be repaired. And the best way to fix them is from a WINDOWS command prompt. Linux probably won't do it. Esp. Knoppix. It's nice to play with, but it doesn't really know much about Windows disk format. So, here is what you need to do:

1) back up to a CD-rom/DVD, IF possible.

2) open a command prompt from the start button (In Win 9x type: command then press enter. Windows 2k, Xp type: cmd and press the enter key.

3) from the command prompt type: CHKDSK X: /f (Where X is the letter of the drive you need to repair).

4) You'll PROBABLY get a message saying, in effect that CHKDSK needs to be able to exclusively lock the drive and can not do so. Do you want CHKDSK to run at next boot up. Press the Y key.

5) Reboot the computer. CHKDSK SHOULD then run on the drive letter from above. IF there is a lot of damage this operation may take a while, so be patient.

6) After CHKDSK has completed and the computer has rebooted, I HIGHLY recommend you defrag your drive(s) and do so on a regular basis.

IF CHKDSK did NOT fix the problem, then I would startt hinking your drive has physcial problems and you might start thinking about replacing it.

The reason Knoppix (or any other linux for that matter) won't work to repair Windows based disk problems (or read/write to them) is the diferrence in file formats. In order to read/write from Linux to a Fat32 (and NTFS which is another whole story) Linux must rely on something like SAMBA, which is a protocol between the 2 OS's.

Once you get your drives repaired, AND if those drives are running Windows of some sort, use Windows itself to do the copying. Eithere cut and paste or copy and paste files (or complete folders for that matter).

And do some research on Linux, and SAMBA. Buy an intro book for Linux, if you are unfamiliar with it. Also for whatever ver. of Windows you may be running.

And you may want to ask this question in the Linux forum.