So, I have an old laptop running Windows XP that recently went bad, really bad. Now fixing the laptop is a whole different story. I plan on simply formatting and doing a fresh install of XP.

I want to retrieve files from the laptop before I format and re-install. I have an Ubuntu Live CD and I can boot the laptop up from the Live CD and get to all my files on the HD, but here comes the problem.

When I try to open my portable HD I get an error message. I can't remember the exact message right now and am away from home but the gist of it is that Ubuntu cannot recognize my portable HD because XP wasn't shut down properly(It crashed). I can't get into Windows to shut it down because I get a BSOD as soon as I start up in normal or safe mode.

I am sure there is a way to use Terminal in Ubuntu and force it to recognize my portable HD, but I am a little unsure about the commands. If I can do this, I can then copy my files from the laptop to my portable HD. So can anyone explain the Linux commands I need to do this or give me a better way to do what I am doing. I am an amateur Linux user so I am hoping someone can give me a Linux for Dummies version of what I need to do.

Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Probably the easiest thing to do would be to use a (different) xp machine to repair the file system on the External HDD, which is what it sounds like your problem is.

If you really want to mount the drive use the 'mount' command with a -t modifier

So you would

mount -t ntfs (the device name) (mount point)

the device name is somewhere in /dev/ (the linux device directory)

The mount point can my something like /home/external it doesn't really matter as long as it's somewhere in the /home/ dir you have write access to.

You are probably best off getting on a different xp box and mount the external and right click, properties/tools/check for errors and then unmounting it properly.

Thanks for the reply and I'm sorry if my original post wasn't very clear... There's nothing wrong with my external HD. It's a portable 320 GB that I use all the time. The problem is when I plug it into the USB of my broken laptop running Ubuntu. Ubuntu(LiveCD) won't let me access the portable HD because it says that Windows wasn't shut down properly. (Windows XP crashed on this laptop and I am using Ubuntu to access my files and transfer them to the portable HD.)

Ubuntu even gives me an example of the force mount command when it says that it cannot mount my external HD. I just can't get it to work right. Tomorrow when I have more time I will post back with the exact error message.

I'll also try the mount command the way you described it. Thanks a lot for the help!

ntfs-3g /dev/sdx1 /mountpointyouwanthere

use the --force option if you want to clear the windows flag, if that fails, get on knoppix (it's designed as a livecd whereas ubuntu is not)

As always, thanks Mazuki!

It might make this whole pain in the butt process more interesting if I do try out a new Linux distro along the way. All I've played with is Ubuntu and BT... I'll give it a shot once I'm home tomorrow.

i've yet to find a faster loading and running livecd distro, bt3 is fast, but it's not really designed for what knoppix is, pick up tqw's release of 1000 knoppix hacks and it will surely shed some light onto what all you can do in knoppix

WOW! I am now a fan of Knoppix!

It was up and running off the CD really quick and I was able to copy everything I needed off of the dead laptop. I didn't need any terminal commands. That was much simpler than Ubuntu was making the job. Now I can do a fresh install and have her up and running in no time!

Thanks Maz!

knoppix is pretty much the be all end all of linux based liveCDs :)

Maz if your still watching i am trying to get the hang of linux too and have a question about knoppix working when ubuntu did not.
I think the error was referring to the journal being bad, due to improper shutdown
did knoppix mount the drive using a force switch or did knoppix just do a better job than ubuntu?

depends on what you mean, most linux distributions use the same fsck, but it's possible that knoppix had a newer version that worked where ubuntu didn't, it would be hard to say without seeing the log of the startup

usually the only time a --force is required that i've seen is when it's a windows volume with an improper shutdown, i've never had to do it with an ext2/3 formatted drive

thnx, that answers it for me, i just wanted to make sure that the solution was specific to the situation and not due to a different set of commands being executed between the two distros. i.e. a --force or something completely beyond my knowledge of linux :)