[Lincs] Iain's HHD Problem

[Grahame.Mulliss at ulh.nhs.uk]

On Tues 03 August 19.25 Iain Baker said:

which reminds me... does anyone know how to recover data from a hard
disk that has lost the ability to recognise its partitions and thus wont
boot?
i have a second hard disk that is a bit old and flaky that im currently
trying to convince to talk to my computer, but that wont help me recover
the vital information stored on the dead(?) HD <hinesight>always back up
BEFORE it dies</hinesight>

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Depends on what the problem actually is - the following assume the MBR
(Master boot record) has corrupted and you've lost your
bootloader(Grub/Lilo )/partition table info.

1. Use the bootdisk you created when you installed your OS - you did
make one didn't you? If not try a copy of a bootable distro like
Knoppix.

2. If you are using LILO you can try booting with the aforementioned
bootdisk/bootable OS then once you are into the system check your
/etc/lilo.conf, making sure all the entries are correct. Then as root
run:
#lilo -v

3. Try a bootable distro designed to recover your system/data like
"Recovery is Possible"
http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/ - I have a
copy if you want it.

4. OS selector - a wonderful little program which will allow to rewrite
your bootsector - I also have a copy if you want it

5. If you dual boot with windows on the same drive you can do an FDISK
/MBR command after booting into dos with a bootable DOS floppy and
reboot - windows will overwrite the MBR allowing you to at least boot
into your windows partition. You can then install a proper OS onto this
drive (Linux ;-) and access your linux partition this way.

Hope these ideas help...

Grahame