Millican09 said:
My computer has been hit with a virus, I'm guessing, because it
doesn't even boot any more. It shows the first screen with the Toshiba
logo and then goes blank for hours. The only think I can think to do
is to reinstall Windows XP, but I don't want to lose all of the music
I have on my computer. Is there a way I can recover my music off of my
hard drive without having my OS working? If there's not a way I can,
do professional computer shops have ways to recover my data for me?
Any help would be gladly appreciated.
Yes and yes. Assuming that you don't have a hardware problem, you can
boot the computer with either Knoppix (a Linux distro that runs from
cd) or a Bart's PE to get the data. You can also slave the hard drive
in another machine with a working XP and copy the data off that way.
I'll give you details about Knoppix and a link for Bart's but only you
know your skill level and whether this is right for you. Definitely a
professional computer repair shop can get your data and then show you
how to back up for the future.
Knoppix:
An easy way to retrieve Windows files is to boot with Knoppix, a Linux
distro on a live cd. You will need a computer with two cd drives, one
of which is a cd/dvd-rw OR a usb thumb drive with enough capacity to
hold your data OR an external usb/firewire hard drive formatted FAT32
(not NTFS). To get Knoppix, you need a computer with a fast Internet
connection and third-party burning software. Download the Knoppix .iso
from
www.knoppix.net and create your bootable cd. Then boot with it and
it will be able to see the Windows files. If you are using the usb
thumb drive or the external hard drive, right-click on its icon (on the
Desktop) to get its properties and uncheck the box that says "Read
Only". Then click on it to open it. Note that the default mouse action
in the window manager used by Knoppix (KDE) is a single click to open
instead of the traditional MS Windows' double-click. Otherwise, use the
K3b burning program to burn the files to cd/dvd-r's.
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ (Bart's PE)
Malke
