XP Boot disk that can read/write NTFS drives

>How do I edit a question?..


To edit a question you must post a question in the 'Community Support' area asking a moderator to modify the question

>>How do I edit a question?..


To edit a question you must post a question in the 'Community Support' area asking a moderator to modify the question


unless there have been no comments posted to the question..then you should see an 'Edit' button to edit your question

Did I say "changing", I meant "cracking"

I have no idea how to use this forum, it is unlike any of the vBulletin forums Im used to.  No edit buttons, no quoting of posts, no text formatting at all  probably because Im a new user.

I have been watching this thread in earnest, Ill address each post in order.

jwaldon: Koppix is pretty cool, that might be the end solution  with all those permission and other details worked out

jasfout:: same answer in regards to Koppix/Linux  as for jwaldon.  Also the link you posted to ntfs4dos only supports reading ntfs drives, not writing to them or at least that is what their documentation says.

jasfout: no there are no editing buttons at this end  even before I commented to it, or Im too dumb to find them which is always a possibility.

johnb6767: Yes  i386.   More specifically c:\windows\i386 with many files.  Yes I have view hidden files set in the options.

If I go through all that material regarding ubcd4win, perform all those steps, will I be able to read from the NTFS C: drive  and write to a USB NTFS drive?  Or maybe at least write to a second internal NTFS drive (c: -> d)?  Would that be a gui i.e. mouse clicks or a dos type prompt?  Would that support long  file and directory names?

meanandgreen:  I googled Ophcrack&. My  goal is a simple boot and graphical copy from internal NTFS C: to external NTFS USB drive  do you think Ophcrack is the best way  for a person not too skilled to approach that goal?  If you are just trying to help and toss in another idea thats great and appreciated  just having a tough time figuring out what to do next.

Right now it looks like 2 probable solutions to the problem
1-      linux/knoppix/etc  which needs some tweaking for permissions outside the scope of this thread - this is the XP OS section.  Someone let me know if that is correct.
2-      ubcd4Win and following all those instructions&might take me a little while but might be worth it.

At this point I am beginning to think this whole NTFS issue is yet another Microsoft propriety gotcha to keep people from being useful instead of some improvement over FAT32/FAT.

I am hoping for more input or comments if anyone has any.  I will not abandon this thread and am eager to decide this issue.

If I some how got a full copy of XP (with license) would that help at all?

Would that allow a CD OS of some type fo copy files from/to NTFS disks?

Sorry if it's a dumb question, I have only purchased complete systems in the last 10 years and only restore disks came with those systems - not Microsofts version of windows.

Would it be possible for you to get a flash drive? You could use Knoppix to retrieve the files from the NTFS drive and copy them to the flash drive and then copy the files from the flash drive to the other NTFS drive. I actually had to do this on a customers PC which was trashed.

NTFS writing really isn't supported in linux because it's risky. However, flash drives don't typically run on a NTFS file system so there is no worry in doing this.

A little bit of a go around but it works!

I second the flash drive notion. The solution I suggested (Ophcrack is loaded through the Slax linux OS) is a simialar program to Knoppix and using a flash drive would be the smoothest.

May I ask what the problem is with the computer that you are trying to get the files off of? I assume it has problems starting windows. Perhaps we could fix the booting problem.

It's kind of scary when you stop and think about linux and NTFS. This isn't to help the case, but just an after-thought.

Password protected Windows/Vista systems wouldn't stop someone with a live linux cd, a flash drive and a motive.

*runs screaming*

jwaldon: don't run screaming, just run and put a password on your BIOS and make sure that it boots from the network or hard drive 1st which would also require passwords.

To answer your question, about the interface of UBCD4Windows....

When you boot to it, it has the look and feel of Windows XP, as it is basically a stripped down version of the app. It has good support for SATA drives, and reading to them/writing to them are no problem. Also, editing the registry is easy enough in the UBCD as well...

So if you are comfortable in Windows, the UBCD would be ideal....

"More specifically c:\windows\i386 with many files"

Its usually on the root of the C: Drive.....

Oh, and as for Long Filenames/Directories, you would have the same limitations as you would in Windows......

jwaldon: I can run out and buy a flash drive no problem  could you give me a clue what to look for?  Certain format of flash drive?  Are they all the same and the OS formats them?  Are the flash drives formatted at all?

You say that NTFS really is not supported.  I found this on a wiki:

Unlike the NTFS driver included in the Linux kernel, NTFS-3G supports most operations for writing files: files of any size can be created, modified, renamed, moved, or deleted on NTFS partitions, except compressed and encrypted files


Does NTFS-3G not work as advertised or were you steering me towards a more simple solution i.e. flash drive?  


meanandgreen: Dont really want to get into a bunch of details&but&. Currently everything is up and working, but I have teenage kids and things dont always stay working despite the best virus protection methods.   Of course everything should be backed up but sometimes is not.

Bottom line  MBRs get trashed on the C: drive occasionally with un-backed up data on them and in the past pulled out the C: drive and connected to another computer to get those files.

FYI  I have SATA on my fujitsu laptop, the rest are some type of IDE in the desktop machines.


jwaldon: Are you saying having a linux Live CD & flash drive is scary because people can them pull data files off a PC and bypass the password protection of XP/Vista?  

meanandgreen: Understood  password protect the BIOS & network would prevent someone booting up with Live CD and stealing data.

EYoung: - yes, I would like to run screaming from all computers!!!

johnb6767: This sounds most promising!  I will look into making this UBCD4Windows.  For the record I specifically mentioned c:windows\i386 because the link you provided specifically said it is normally found at c:\i386& This is true on the Fujitsu Laptop running XP Media edition (dont laugh, needed a laptop asap), and on the Emachine2 PC running XP SP2.  Both of those machines came with the system restore disks  not a Microsoft version of XP.

Any clue as to how having a Manufacturers version of XP at C:\windows\i386 might affect things?


Summary:
-USB drive  boot up Linux Live CD of some type, and it should write to a USB flash drive without too much trouble, Ill look into that.

-      UBCD4Windows  Ill start reading up on how to do that.

-      Not mentioned, but may be possible  booting up a version of Linux Live CD then (presumably) run NTFS-3G somehow and that would presumably read/write NTFS drives without moving drives around, and possibly read/write to USB NTFS drives.

Thanks for the information so far  you have no idea how much this means to me.  I  continue to be open to any & all suggestions.  If I have made any errors interpreting what was posted please let me know.

And of course since Im new to this forum if I am doing anything wrong with regards to the rules let me know that as well&  Breaking the rules is not my intent.

.

"Any clue as to how having a Manufacturers version of XP at C:\windows\i386 might affect things?"

It wont, as long as it is the proper setup folder in it's entirety....Change the path to the installation files to c:\windows in the PEBuilder app, instead of c:\.....

As for the first response, any typical flash drive you buy would be sufficient. I just bought a 2GB one at Best Buy for $20 the other day.

As for the answer to the 2nd response, thats exactly what I mean.

I'm still here and am making progress.  Hopefully in the next couple of days there will be results.

Bought a Thumbdrive, built UBCD4Win CD, built Knoppix CD.

UBCD4Windows

http://ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm, clicked on download from download.com.
Downloaded & ran UBCD4Win310.exe
Search for Windows Installation Files? (may take some time)  Yes
Used all default options except  burned a CD using StarBurn instead of making an ISO.  StarBurn seems to be part of the software that was down loaded.

That made the UBCD4Win CD.

As long as USB storage devices  both thumb drive & NTFS external HD were connected on boot up of UBCD4Win everything worked flawlessly on windows machines.  Files could be copied from any drive to any drive with full read & write access.   Did not consistently work with plug & play.

Ubuntu machine  everything worked flawless on the USB storage devices & 2nd internal NTFS D: hard drive, but could not read the internal C: drive which Ubuntu (and many data files) were residing.  No clue what format that C: is now that Ubuntu installed itself on it.

Knoppix

·      Read all drives on all computers including Ubuntu C: drive.
·      Can only write reliably to thumbdrive.  Thumbdrive must be unmounted before removal or data will be lost.
Note that simply clicking on a drive mounts it & displays the contents, then right clicking is necessary and selecting write is needed to be able to write to it.  Also note that Knoppix seems to support plug & play fine.

It seemed to me that the NTFS-3G program/drive which needed some kind of compiler was worth following up on considering there seems to be simpler alternatives and that would probably need to be installed on the HD which may not be available in the furure.

Conclusion
Either method works for window.
·      UBCD4Win is better for Windows machines because more data can be retrieved
·      Knoppix type Live CD is necessary for retrieving files off Linux type machines.
·      Moving the C: drive also works.
·      Restoring previously backed up files from external USB NTFS drive also works.

Knoppix appears far more friendly and easier to me  may be easier to configure things like printer & network.

Now I need to figure out how to "award points".

Please don't get mad if I screw up....

Thank you much!

Now in addition to my standard back up plans I can pull data off both the Windows & Ubuntu machines without moving the hard drive around and "all bases are covered".

Thank you very very much for your time.

Ok I think I did that correctly.

If I do not un-subscribe from this forum it is going to cost me some $ so I'll un-subscribe now.

If I can figure out how to sign up so I  don't have to pay I will, but it may be under a different user name.

Thanks again!!!

http://www.experts-exchange.com/registerFree.jsp

you might read the section on 'Becoming an Expert'

Not sure if it was an ok thing to do - but re-signed up as "Husqvarna"...  as an "expert".

Going to try to figure out this web site now.