Urgent PC/linux advice needed!!!!

As I feared my C:\ drive died on me, at least the boot sector is damaged.

I m using linux Slax (bootable from a CD) in order to post this as well as manage my system.

I m in need of a free compiled HDD cloning/image creating software for linux slax. I am a total linux newbie but I can guess my way around.

This is pretty urgent because i have some studying to do and I m on a dead-line, so any assistance is appreciated.

Please keep in mind that I want to restore the HDD image when i get a new drive one of these days, so i need a cross-OS format (.iso?) for the clone image.

In the mean-time i ll do some googling on my own, see what i can find.

Thanks in advance guys

 

Where do you want to dump your hdd?

 

Barc0de, how spooky! You were just saying you feared your PC might run into such issues only a few days ago.

 

I want to dump my hdd to an external hard drive, namely sdb1.

Parris, it's not luck, it was calculated probability - thank god for statistical analysis!

 

You have enough empty space I suppose.
You want the dump to be a single file or having all the stuff as-is (including same partitions layout and boot sector)?

 

yes, i want the stuff as is, but without the boot sector because i think its corrupted

 

You should familiarize yourself with dd.
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Dd

If you have only one partition however, a simple copy of all the files should work too.

 

i did a drag'n'drop of the whole 1st hdd to the target one.

I wonder if replacing a future installation of XP with the files i backed-up will make it work still.

 

Probably not. You'll need to run the Recovery Console (boot from XP install disc and press that option) and type "help". There are two commands (I think fixboot or fixmbr) that will regenerate your boot sector/MBR. Your new hard drive will need this information. Better to boot livecd debian and DD the old contents to the new drive. Good chance dragndropping missed hidden/system files covered up by windows

 

somehow, magically, i rebooted after using SLAX and the damn thing works! a miracle?

 

The miracle of linux

 

Corrupted Sector? Run a "chkdisk C: /r" via the recovery console when you boot off of the XP CD. Then run a diagnostic on the HDD from the manufacturer's diagnostic software.

 

It should do. I did a 1:1 copy with cut and paste onto an external parition when the same thing happened and it worked fine. You need the exact same PC though otherwise XP will kill itself trying to update all the drivers for the different hardware spec you try running it on.

So if it is just a straight HDD swap in the same machine, cut and pasting it back over a new XP install will work fine. You have to install XP on the new HDD first though, then copy everything over in DOS or Linux.

Also it the drive has failed to boot XP once, it is probably a very bad sign. Back up your data now!

 

If you reinstall xp over your your current xp setup..the only thing that wont work were would be any installed progams. All documents will still be there provided you choose NOT to format. (I always reinstall via booting off cd and not actually reinstalling in windows itself)

I have done this plenty of times. Just when you have reinstalled XP. Go to your username folder (where all your desktop/documents stuff is) and reset the permissions by disabling simple sharing. All stuff like mp3s/setup files will still be there just applications will need re-installing. If you get stuck drop me a pm

EVERYTHING on your drives will still be there provided you dont format. You will have to reinstall applications.

 

For future reference Hirens boot CD and bartPE are lifesavers in this situation. Hiren in many, many situations actually..

 

a quick update.

The HDD seems to be fine, for now at least. No weird noises or anything. My main concern over it stems mainly from the fact that it's 5-6 years old.

That said, I hadn't formatted my Pc since 2004 and it ran fine, manually maintained by myself - untill today.

A strange bug found its way to my PC. After installing the half-assed software of my mobile phone (SE P990i) on my SP2 win XP and while trying to configure the application to work over Bluetooth, things started getting slow. I thought to myself i should reset and everything would be fine. I was wrong. The issue persisted even when I re-installed windows.

So i formatted.

To be honest however, I think this bug was due to the fact that I assigned about 12 emulated com ports over to the m-router application of the phone. For most of you who wont understand what I mean don't panic.

The m-router is the main application that SE phones use to talk to the phone over USB. What the application does is RS232 serial port emulation either over USB or over BlueTooth. Hence, to use a bluetooth manner of connection, one must specify to the m-router application which virtual comm-port it has to look for. Indeed, even after assigning a single comm-port to it it slowed down desperately, even on a newly formatted PC.

Bottom line: avoid crappy software even if its from a reputable company.

On the subject of backups and OS, what i finally did was a 1:1 copy paste of my c:\ onto an external drive.

Due to the cluttered and complex way things got over 4 years of constant use without formatting, I thought it would be better to re-install everything anew, just copying the personal data over.


That said, in case of HDD failure a 1:1 image is a must, and I would like to hear the suggestions. Making a cloned image of your C:\ can be a life-saver.

 

1:1 copy? norton ghost is the way to go!

 

I'd say your HDD, or at least the partition map, is\was on its way out. If the MBR dies, you should be able to mount it in a different OS (Windows or Linux) and salvage data. However, if the partition, or the map dies, you're pretty much SOL. Backup personal data (you don't need a 1:1 copy, unless you want to reinstall perfectly, like a OEM recovery DVD), cause backing up your OS, programs and settings is just wasteful when you don't need to back them up.

 

A link to Hirens boot CD is here

http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd

Anyway that is the info link, here is the download link.

http://soft.softoogle.com/ap/hiren-s-bootcd-download-6916.shtml

 

I'd still replace the drive in question. This is typical of a drive of that age and it usually ends in a crash that takes a lot of data with it.