Bootmed Ubuntu Remix

I also have Systemrescue Live CD, knoppix, and ubuntu 11.04

Any suggestions ?

i have checked the laptop hard disk with SATA data and power cable. Both fits Correctly.
Awaiting Further instruction from you.

I think ubuntu is a good choice. I use it regularly. Very balanced and with few bugs.

If you are waiting and you have a partition to spare, why don't you install linux on hard disk- if you are comfortable with it.... On second thought, just wait for unSpawn.

Thank you for you suggestion. I'm Right now backing up my data at my Workstation (if i can call it that way) to the External Disk I purchased today. Can't risk losing data again.I shall consider installing ubuntu after that.But as u said, only after consultation with unSpawn.

I'd rather you install install Ubuntu afterwards (time-wise) but in terms of fscking drive assignments up it might be better to install Ubuntu before you back up the victim hard disk, especially if the desktop machine contains only 1 hard disk. Your choice and none is bad. If you install Ubuntu first please choose a reasonable set of applications to install (please don't install everything), ensure network connectivity is up so you can update and install ddrescue, Photorec and Testdisk.

* Whatever you decide please indicate your choice and when you're ready so we can move on. Once you've booted into your Live CD or Ubuntu installation please provide output of 'sudo fdisk -l; sudo cat /etc/fstab; sudo mount' and tell me which partition will hold the backup file.

I shall go for the Live CD as I value your precious time.Will Bootmed be alright ? I donot have the real Ubuntu with me. Other options with me are - Knoppix, Systemrescuecd

I just finished backing up files. I'm now going to merge and format two partitions using Easus Partition Master.I'm going forward with NTFS formatting. Pls Correct me if i'm wrong.

Output of fdisk -l;

isk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders, total 488397168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb709b709

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 2048 206847 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2 206848 40964095 20378624 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3 40968258 488395485 223713614 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5 40968277 488395485 223713604+ 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT


Output of cat /etc/fstab

####################################################
## ATTENTION: THIS IS THE FSTAB ON THE LIVECD ##
## PLEASE EDIT THE FSTAB at /mnt/gentoo/etc/fstab ##
####################################################
tmpfs / tmpfs defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto 0 0


Output of mount

rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=10240k,mode=755)
/dev/sr0 on /livemnt/boot type iso9660 (ro,relatime,mode=0644)
/dev/loop0 on /livemnt/squashfs type squashfs (ro,relatime)
tmpfs on /livemnt/memory type tmpfs (rw,relatime)
none on / type aufs (rw,noatime,si=dd112f87)
tmpfs on /livemnt/tftpmem type tmpfs (rw,relatime,size=524288k)
none on /tftpboot type aufs (rw,relatime,si=dd2abf87)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
rc-svcdir on /lib/rc/init.d type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=1024k,mode=755)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw,relatime)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
shm on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
usbfs on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,devmode=0664,devgid=85)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw)

I'm using systemrescuecd since Bootmed failed to connect to the internet. Hope you are alright with this

There are only 2 partions as of now - C: drive with the windows, D: with 200+ GB. there was also a 3rd system reserved partition.

I'm planning to recover to the D: Drive but i cannot locate it from the above partition table.

Whatever works for you.


I'd rather you use ext2 as we don't need journaling. But if you plan on using Windows tools later on then NTFS is OK as long as the Linux distribution you use comes with ntfs-3g. Even though the NTFS-3g project doesn't say write operations to NTFS volumes are completely safe I haven't had problems with it so far though that itself is no guarantee.


Sure.


Running 'fdisk -l' should show. If you removed the second primary partition /dev/sda2 then only /dev/sda1, /dev/sda3 and /dev/sda5 remain, correct? If correct then /dev/sda5 is the "D:" partition. Else just post output of 'sudo fdisk -l' again.

I'll post some steps for your review. Please read them over and if you need to ask questions before running dd_rescue:
- Ensure Bootmed can access and write to NTFS partitions ('sudo grep fuse /proc/modules; sudo locate ntfs-3g'). If it does not and you have formatted your "D:" as NTFS we need a Live CD that can access and write to NTFS partitions.
- Copy Bootmed's network configuration (in /etc) to an USB stick or floppy disk so you can easily re-enable networking after reboot (unless it's easy to configure for you).
- Shut down the desktop.
- Open the desktop casing and attach the laptop's hard disk. best put something soft underneath it like an anti-static mat, a piece of clean cloth or folded paper with respect to vibrations.
- Boot into Bootmed. If it has a boot option to load completely into RAM use that. If you are comfortable with the command line interface boot into runlevel 3 or just use the GUI.
- Open a terminal window.
- Run 'sudo fdisk -l' to verify both disks are attached and verify disk size. If same order is kept your desktop disk (size 250GB) will be /dev/sda. If it is listed as /dev/sdb instead please substitute device assignments below.
- Create a mount point for your ("D :") NTFS partition to write to: 'sudo mkdir /recovery'.
- Mount it: 'sudo ntfs-3g -o noatime,nocompression /dev/sda5 /recovery'.
- Bootmed does not come with ddrescue but dd_rescue. Review dd_rescue usage. If there is a manual page run 'man dd_rescue' else see ;dd_rescue -h'. We'll use these options:
-s : start copying from disk at this point (former recovery partition + former Windows partition + former Ubuntu partition) = 90G
-m : maximum amount to copy (leave out if you want to fill up your 200G partition)
-l : log file to write to
-o : a list of bad blocks to write to
-k : use zero copy splice
-f : skip sanity checks
-v : be verbose


Please ask questions before running dd_rescue.

Else:
- open another terminal window and run 'sudo tail -f /tail -f /var/log/messages'. This should show you any warnings the kernel emits.
- in the other terminal window become root (if you have not done so already): 'su -l' or 'sudo su -l' and then run 'dd_rescue -s 90G -m 120G -l /recovery/dd_rescue.log -o /recovery/badblocks.log -k -f -v /dev/sdb /recovery/image.dd 2>&1 | tee /recovery/progress.log' and wait for the process to finish.

Good luck!

I setup all Hardware and when I boot from Live CD Of BOOTMED it takes me to a Black Screen with blinking cursor. I can write commands but no response/

Did this livecd work earlier? If so, the added hardware may be a problem.

Why don't you try systemrescuecd or knoppix livecd? As unSpawn said, whichever linux, dd_rescue should run in that.

Yes. The live CD worked earlier. I think The added hardware is creating the problem.
From the release notes, systemrescuecd has ddrescue instead of dd_rescue. Are the command lines same for both ?

First step is to start a linux session using livecd. Try other livecd (systemrescuecd or knoppix) and see.

There are some differences between 2 applications. Use only dd_rescue as instructed by unSpawn. You can download that program and install it once linux session starts.

http://www.google.com/search?client=...utf-8&oe=utf-8

http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/

To install is really easy in ubuntu- go to synaptic package manager, select the application and install. For others, you will need to download source tar.gz file, unzip it in a folder, then see instructions (readme or install text files) for installing it. Usually there are following 3 commands to be run:

./configure
make
make install

And then you can use the program from commandline.

Both has failed - BootMed as well as SystemrescueCd.. Both cannot boot with the hard disk connected.. I'm at total loss. !!!

Systemrescuecd initially gave the boot options. I choose to boot by default. A loads lines stating error came up and most were with respect to /sdb (which i guess is the laptop hard disk).

Try knoppix also; it is supposed to be very good at hardware detection. Also wait for some time as detection of defective disk may take a while.

Also note the error messages (photograph the screen with a digital camera if output is too much or rapid) and post them here.

Is windows starting? What does it show in terms of hard disks?