I have a DSL CD. Specifically, I think it was

dsl-4.4.10.iso

Does this run as a live CD by default? I gave this to a friend who knows nothing about Linux, and I don't want them to overwrite their hard disk. Is it possible for DSL to install to a hard disk? Will it write to a NTFS disk with out doing a sudo or su?

Damn Small Linux is a live cd by default. And I believe it does have a driver for NTFS but I am not sure. Since it is Live Cd you should be able to read/write to NTFS but it won't touch the files unless you tell it to. If they are looking to install a Linux system then don't let them use DSL. It is a nice Live cd but no a good Desktop distro. There are far better options for noobs like Fedora and Ubuntu. And I saw you use Slackware so even that(with your help) isn't too hard.

EDIT:
Sorry! forgot to mention that no, you would not need to use su or sudo as I believe you are already root? or you already have sufficient access.

The DSL wiki suggests it is a live CD: http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/i...L_Boot_Process

"The DSL Live CD is available in both isolinux and syslinux versions. These are both Linux boot loaders which can be run from a CD."

The wiki has an entire section on installation, including hard drive installation at http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/i..._the_Hard_Disk

I don't know about writing to NTFS partitions. Someone else can probably help with that and give you a more definitive answer about running the live CD.

My purpose is to help them recover files from a totally messed up windows installation. Ubuntu 9 and Xubuntu would not run. I think this is because the computer is too old. FYI it's a Toshiba Celeron, that I believe is about 7 years old.

I was using Slackware, but have migrated to Ubuntu because it is easier to install software and easy to keep updated.

You could use many distro's to recover files from a harddrive, Ubuntu/DSL/Feather/Tinycore etc.

Questions; you want to use DSL to recover files from the hd of the Toshiba?

What are the specs of the lappy? RAM/HD size,etc?

If you're trying to recover files from a corrupted disk, I'd use Knoppix or Slax. It's a lot easier to use than DSL and doesn't require much to run like Ubuntu. Those two also have tools already installed for such a purpose. (well, I know that Knoppix does. Tell me if I'm wrong about Slax)