Need Help Using Knoppix to Recover Data From Crashed Windows Computer

**krishna.murphy** · 07-05-2010, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by Tattered Phoenix

hi,
I opened up the pc file manager with no problem, and I can see the hard drive icon, but it won't let me open/access it, I get this message when I try:
Unable to mount error<i>org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.Volume.unknown failure</
I am not sure what to do here to access my hard drive. Thanks so much for all your help.

I've gotten this type of error message, too. Since we're still not sure what type of filesystem you're dealing with, I suggest using the Preferences-GParted program to get an overview of the hard drives' filesystem(s.) Note that you can make things worse, too - these are powerful programs, and need to be used cautiously.

In my own case, Windows was installed on a partition formatted with NTFS which had become corrupted. Since the error message related to a M$oft file system, it made sense to use their tools to regenerate it, but I needed the benefit of those tools without having the (working) infrastructure (Windows OS to support running M$ programs.)

I ended up using chkdsk successfully, but in order to get their programs to run I needed something I could boot up that supported that. Although Knoppix includes Wine, which would in theory do that, I followed advice I got here and used Hiren's Bootcd- which you can get LOTS of places on the web, esp. via BitTorrent. Knoppix will support that via Transmission on the Internet menu, but you'll need something to save stuff to, e.g. a flash drive.

NOTE Since that disk also contains unlicensed commercial software, be forewarned that, should you choose to download it, you are on your honor to only use the FreeDOS OS and software you have a license to use, e.g. M$oft chkdsk. In my own case, the chkdsk on the Windows partition was not working, but the copy/version on Hiren's worked for me.

Cheers!
Krishna

**Tattered Phoenix** · 07-05-2010, 04:08 PM

I really dont want to make things worse, and I am not sure what the Preferences-GParted program is. Is this my only option, is there anything else I can do? because this seems a bit confusing and risky. thanks so much for your help.

**krishna.murphy** · 07-05-2010, 06:23 PM

Originally Posted by Tattered Phoenix

I really dont want to make things worse, and I am not sure what the Preferences-GParted program is. Is this my only option, is there anything else I can do? because this seems a bit confusing and risky. thanks so much for your help.

You can run the program without fear, to get information; just don't tell it to DO something to a partition (like erase/format/delete it.) I don't know what happened with the link (on your other thread.) Here is what I meant.

Cheers!
Krishna

**Tattered Phoenix** · 07-06-2010, 03:11 AM

ok, so is this a program that is part of knoppix that I should open and use, or is it something separate I need to download, I am bit unsure of this part. Thanks so much for all the help.

**krishna.murphy** · 07-06-2010, 03:47 AM

Originally Posted by Tattered Phoenix

ok, so is this a program that is part of knoppix that I should open and use, or is it something separate I need to download, I am bit unsure of this part. Thanks so much for all the help.

Click the main menu, then Preferences, then GParted. Here's a screenshot (attached.)