[vox-tech] Fwd: Knoppix Questions

[Alex Mandel]

Bill Kendrick wrote:
> Shneor attempted to post the following to vox-tech from an unsubscribed
> address, so I'm passing it to the list, and Cc'ing them.  :^)
> 
> -bill!
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from shneor at dcn.davis.ca.us -----
> 
> Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 9:09:00 -0700
> From: shneor at dcn.davis.ca.us
> Subject: Knoppix Questions
> To: vox-tech at lists.lugod.org
> 
> Hello.
> I have a serious problem and I am trying to find out just how much
> Knoppix might help in the short term.
> 
> Background: I run W2K on my main PC with an IDE hard drive and a USB
> drive, both using NTFS. A Couple of weeks ago, as a result of a
> foolish decision, my hard drive's mbr was wiped out and as far as the
> bios knows, there's no hard drive. W2K won't reinstall.
> 
> Enter Knoppix - Lugod handed out Knoppix CDs a couple of years
> ago. When I load it my devices work and it reads the data on my USB
> drive.
> 
> Question: Can I install a Knoppix partition or boot sector on my USB
> drive so I can save config info? Can I install Knoppix on the USB
> drive so I could run Knoppix from my USB drive, without causing
> problems for W2K? Can I make a boot floppy for Knoppix if it is
> installed on the USB drive?
> 
> Finally, is a more recent version of Knoppix on CD locally available?
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Shneor
> 

I can bring the latest version of Knoppix to the social tonight at 
Delta. Reading online a little, you might want to try Puppy
http://www.puppylinux.com/flash-puppy.htm
It's already built to run off a USB, and has full NTFS read/write in the 
newest version which is very useful for that windows box.
If I get a chance I'll download the install CD which has an option to 
create a bootable USB drive.

Of course if you're talking about a USB hard drive then I think you can 
use any distro you want and put Grub or Lilo on the main drive to dual boot.

In terms of recovering your not so bootable hard drive there may be some 
options to move your files to your 2nd drive reformat the mbr and then 
move the files back.
Does Knoppix see your main drive at all? Try opening Parted from the 
menu and see what it says about your drives.

-Alex