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Thread: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

  1. #1
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    Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    Hi. My mom had an old compaq with windows me. It crashed recently, such that it now boots into the desktop, reboots immediately, ad infinitum. She has some un-backed up financial data on there. I pulled the hdd out and put it in an external casing, hoping I could mount it like an external hdd. (I run heron.) I saw it once under "Computer", but it said it couldn't mount, and now I see it no more. I tried booting from it (there's a "USB Memory" option when you use f12 to enter the boot menu at startup), but it doesn't even seem to try. goes straight to GRUB and ubuntu.

    I'm a noob. Be gentle. Oh...and she's thinking of switching over (she just got a laptop with vista and i've been preaching the word). if the community can help, it might win a convert.

    Thanks all!
    q
    Jesus saves. Everyone else takes 10d6.

  2. #2
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    Hi. You can get a boot disk for Me from here.
    Once you've made a disk, boot from it and you should be able to see the files on the hard disk. You may need to set up the boot option in bios, in order to do this.
    If it doesn't work with the Me disk try an XP boot disk (at the same URL).
    Good luck.
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  3. #3
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    You could try booting the ME machine in Safe Mode (press F8 as it boots) then run msconfig and check "Diagnostic Startup" then load your drivers until you find the one that causes the restart loop and disable it from Safe Mode again.
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  4. #4
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    Quote Originally Posted by querent View Post
    (I run heron.) I saw it once under "Computer", but it said it couldn't mount, and now I see it no more.
    Unplug it, wait 15 seconds; then replug it in and wait 15 seconds; then open a terminal (Applications-Accessories-Terminal), then give the following commands and post the output here.
    Code:
    dmesg | tail
    fdisk -l
    lsusb
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  5. #5
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    Quote Originally Posted by Kevbert View Post
    Hi. You can get a boot disk for Me from here.
    Once you've made a disk, boot from it and you should be able to see the files on the hard disk. You may need to set up the boot option in bios, in order to do this.
    If it doesn't work with the Me disk try an XP boot disk (at the same URL).
    Good luck.
    Ok...no one here has a floppy drive. three laptops in this house are all that function. If this isn't a problem, let me know.

    Working on the other suggestions. Thanks to all.
    q
    Jesus saves. Everyone else takes 10d6.

  6. #6
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    here's the output:

    william@ubuntu:~$ dmesg | tail
    [ 758.743144] scsi 5:0:0:0: Direct-Access WDC WD15 0AA-60BAA0 10.0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
    [ 758.746221] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] 29336831 512-byte hardware sectors (15020 MB)
    [ 758.747215] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
    [ 758.747222] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
    [ 758.747227] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [ 758.748702] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] 29336831 512-byte hardware sectors (15020 MB)
    [ 758.750126] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
    [ 758.750135] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
    [ 758.750139] sd 5:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
    [ 758.750146] sdb:
    william@ubuntu:~$ fdisk -l
    william@ubuntu:~$ lsusb
    Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    Bus 007 Device 010: ID 067b:2507 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2507 Hi-speed USB to IDE bridge controller
    Bus 007 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
    william@ubuntu:~$
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  7. #7
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    Do you think the problem is with the drive or the filesystem/boot sector/partition table of the drive? If it is the latter, I would plug the drive in and get the testdisk live cd and see if it recognizes the hard drive. Testdisk can repair partition tables and rewrite 'windows-like' boot sectors (as well as recover data from unwanted filesystem deletion). If you think the drive has developed a problem, have a look at using dd commands to copy the data to another drive, before your drive dies completely. Before trying any of these, if you decide to, read all documentaion very carefully, or else you might inadvertantly destroy the information that is on the drive by using these tools incorrectly.
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  8. #8
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    Re: Windows ME hdd needs rescue

    ok...here's some voodoo...i ran the diagnostics that i posted, rebooted, and the drive was recognized. it's an icon on the desktop, like any external hdd. I got the stuff off! no idea what's happened here. did i mount it somehow in the commands i gave (that are posted)?

    thanks to all for whatever has happened!

    q
    Jesus saves. Everyone else takes 10d6.

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