<snip>
I don't know. Linux doesn't tell me what's wrong---it just stops.
All linux distros either show a boot-log on the screen during bootup,
or produce a log file or files that can tell you what went wrong.
Windows is similar, if you can't boot windows on your computer, you
can turn on the bootlog option to diagnose what the problem is.
<snip>
Because Ubuntu said that it couldn't mount the drive in a dialog box
that appeared when I clicked on the drive's icon.
<snip>
I haven't mounted it. Windows does that for me. I assumed that Linux
would too, but it doesn't.
<snip>
Ubuntu never gave me any clues of help files to mount the drive. Just a
dialog box saying that Ubuntu couldn't do it.
Nope. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. None of the Linux
distros (Live CD's or full installation OS Disks) have ever told me
what was wrong so I could fix it. I don't know enough about Linux to
troubleshoot installations so I have to go back to Windows.
OK, to summarize, you are looking for a recovery tool that will let
you access your ntfs partitions. Some linux distros won't boot at all
on your hardware, you don't know why. Ubuntu linux boots but doesn't
work straight out of the box to read your ntfs partitions. You don't
want to troubleshoot this or learn enough about linux to try to figure
out what is wrong. You don't want to post to the ubuntu forum, to see
if someone can give you an easy way to access your ntfs partitions.
Thanks for the tip. I'm downloading System Rescue CD right now as I
write.
I don't think it's what you're looking for. You have to learn about
the mount command to use any hard disk partition (ntfs or otherwise)
under system rescue cd. You'll need to read the manual and faq. It's
not a GUI linux interface, it's a command line interface. It's a
recovery and maintenance tool, not a full blown linux. If you're
looking for a simple, idiot-proof, out-of-the-box solution, I don't
recommend it.
The reason that I posted
in the ACF NG is because the OS that the CD uses to boot the machine is
not an issue, just as long as it will boot and access the NTFS hard
drive. In fact, since I've had such a difficult time with Linux, I'm
open to suggestions that are not from the Linux genre. I broadened the
question to "any freeware" that will boot and read NTFS, and posted in
the freeware NG rather than Linux, since I'm not limiting the search to
Linux---just limiting it to freeware.
I understand. I meant to suggest the linux forums just to help you
solve your linux problems. But it sounds like you don't really want to
troubleshoot this, you want a solution that works right off.
Given the above, I would suggest Bart PE as others have suggested. It
will look and feel familiar.
There are some disadvantages to Bart PE. You have to build Bart PE
yourself. You need to find and download all the plugins for all the
tools you want to include on your CD. These come from various sources,
and are of various quality, so this takes time and research. When a
plug-in comes out with a new version that you need/want, you must
rebuild your CD.
For example, to access word and excel files, you must find an office
plug-in, that will read your files (office 97? office 2003?). Then
download it, get it into the right place so bart pe will find it, then
rebuild your CD.
Personally, I find this all more difficult that getting a linux distro
working. With a linux distro, open office is included, and when you
want a new version of the distro, you just download the ISO file and
burn it. But it depends on your background and experience, and your
interests. To each his own.
Someone else suggested booting to dos and using ntfsdos (the home page
is
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/NtfsDos.html). This is also a
possible solution, if you are comfortable at the DOS command line. But
the freeware version is read-only access to ntfs partitions, so you
won't be able to delete files without upgrading to the $ware version.
And booting to DOS, you will normally not have access to your network,
if that matters to you.
Terry
