How do I do this??

[stevo1210]

My cousin handed me her Toshiba P25 laptop for a service/ tune up today. Only problem is that the HDD is infected with viruses and the optical drive is busted.
The BIOS does not let me boot from a USB flash drive which I have DSL Linux on for file recovery.
The laptop still boots to windows XP, but it will take me at least 2 hours until I can move the mouse and when I click on something.... well.... that takes even longer to load.
I can get into safe mode with no issues, but in normal mode.... I can't get anything to work.
Any ideas what i can do to recover the file on her laptop??

Thanks.

[shadow]

Re: How do I do this??

There are a few things you can do.

You got a Linux distribution on a USB flash drive. Maybe use an external CD Drive, external Hard Drive (I don't think these options will work but they are ideas). Maybe if you manage to install a 3rd party boot manager, you will be able to boot from a USB device or an external CD-ROM drive. A good option is to use a floppy disk to boot the Linux distribution.

Maybe you could use some other Linux or even DOS distribution that can boot from a floppy disk.

[kc8adu]

Re: How do I do this??

use a 2.5-3.5 ide adapter to put the hdd in your desktop.

[shadow]

Re: How do I do this??

Alright Steve. Check out this site, it has everything you need to boot DSL using floppy disks.

http://damnsmalllinux.org/wiki/index.php/Boot_Floppies

I am assuming you have a floppy drive in the laptop and a few spare floppy disks lying around!

use a 2.5-3.5 ide adapter to put the hdd in your desktop.

This is a brilliant idea if you have the adapter lying around. If you don't, it will cost you at least AU$20 to get the adapter. Oh wait, I am thinking of a USB to IDE converter. I do not know how much a 2.5"-3.5" IDE adapter costs. Mind you a USB to IDE converter will also work brilliantly.

[Topcat]

Re: How do I do this??

Replace the busted optical.

[dood]

Re: How do I do this??

Safe mode will load the drivers for your USB stick, so slap some utilities on there and go to town in safe mode. Get Hijackthis and remove suspicious entries. Grab the important files off there while your working (hope you've got a big flash drive!)

[PedroDaGr8]

Re: How do I do this??

use a 2.5-3.5 ide adapter to put the hdd in your desktop.

I use this method ALLLLLLL the time on hdd that are too virii infected to be useful on their own. It works great.

[zandrax]

Re: How do I do this??

My cousin handed me her Toshiba P25 laptop for a service/ tune up today. Only problem is that the HDD is infected with viruses and the optical drive is busted.

What does a "busted" drive mean? Unable to spin the disc or unable to read it (maybe it tries for a while, noisy spinning, then it stops, it spins again, it stops and so on)?
In the former you have to replace it or buy an external drive, because the drive motor or electronic components are dead; in the latter lens is dirty in over 90% of cases and laser is exausted in the spare.
Cleaning is esay: pick a cotton swab and some isopropyl alcohol, wet the swab with alcool and gently rub the lens with the swab. Be kind and avoid brushing, since it may scratch the lens. If isopropyl alcohol is unavailable, you can use any alcohol which don't make plastic opaque or (worse) melt it: denatured alcohol is widely available in Italy and it's suitable for the job, though the isopropyl one is the best.
Otherwise you may buy a cd-lens cleaning kit: a cd audio with a small, soft brush and a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol. The lens cleaner is useful mainly for slot-in drives (car chargers, hi-fi, tv dvd recorders, some notebooks' drives), but you can use on a common tray drive too.

Zandrax

[PCBONEZ]

Re: How do I do this??

"busted drive"
The police came, handcuffed it, and hauled it off to county lock-up.
.

[PedroDaGr8]

Re: How do I do this??

"busted drive"
The police came, handcuffed it, and hauled it off to county lock-up.
.

or using lesser known slang... a cd drive so ugly the dog thinks your brought a women home for him.

[stevo1210]

Re: How do I do this??

use a 2.5-3.5 ide adapter to put the hdd in your desktop.

I found one of these adaptors in my box of spares today.
Only problem is that the adaptor fits in both ways? so I don't know which way is the right way....

What does a "busted" drive mean? Unable to spin the disc or unable to read it (maybe it tries for a while, noisy spinning, then it stops, it spins again, it stops and so on)?

The problem with the optical drive is that it will only read DVDs and not CDs. Unfortunately Windows XP comes on a CD rom....

Thanks.

[pentium]

Re: How do I do this??

Only problem is that the adaptor fits in both ways? so I don't know which way is the right way....

Look for the slikscreen marking for pin one (usually marked "1")

[zandrax]

Re: How do I do this??

The problem with the optical drive is that it will only read DVDs and not CDs. Unfortunately Windows XP comes on a CD rom....

Dirt 'n easy solution: get a full image of you XP cd (boot track included) and burn it on a rewritable Dvd. My dual370 mounts a cheap BenQ combo [I have to use it because it's the shortest drive I own, and the mobo is quite near it] which refuses to read cds, so I use this trick when I run UBCD on it.
Ugly but working.

Zandrax

[stevo1210]

Re: How do I do this??

Dirt 'n easy solution: get a full image of you XP cd (boot track included) and burn it on a rewritable Dvd. My dual370 mounts a cheap BenQ combo [I have to use it because it's the shortest drive I own, and the mobo is quite near it] which refuses to read cds, so I use this trick when I run UBCD on it.
Ugly but working.

Zandrax

How do I do that method where you specified above to copy the boot track of windows xp to a dvd? I've tried to copy all files from an xp cd to dvd but it's not bootable.... can anyone show me how to do it step by step? oh and is this method of turning a cd into dvd also possible with windows 98?

thanks.

[i4004]

Re: How do I do this??

stevo, bootable dvd is same as bootable cd as far as optical reader is concerned.

make ubcd4win and boot(it actually boots itself..heh).
from then you'll figure it out. booting will not be fast...

http://www.ubcd4win.com/

once u use it to get cleaner system and more responsive, put avast and let it do boot-time scan.

if you just want to save the data, use external hdd to copy stuff from laptop(also with ubcd)

>"busted drive"
The police came, handcuffed it, and hauled it off to county lock-up.

good joke there, but calling drive that reads dvds busted....
i don't even use cdrs anymore.
for me trouble is a machine without dvd reading.

oh yeah, making bootable dvd from bootable cd is easy; make image with imgburn, and burn it to dvdr.
done.
boot track is part of image, no need to do anything special.

[zandrax]

Re: How do I do this??

@ stevo: i4004 is right: the image copies both content and the file structure, so it retains the bootable partition. Create an image of your XP cd with Imgburn or your favourite burning app, then burn it on a dvd instead of a cd (Copy image or similar commands). That's all.
Try with a dvd-r or -rw first: the DVD- or "dash" standard is older than the DVD+ or "plus" one and, as a rule of thumb, is more compatible with most older DVD readers while DVD+ works better on old Philips drives; never drives should read both standards without hassles.

Zandrax

[stevo1210]

Re: How do I do this??

@ stevo: i4004 is right: the image copies both content and the file structure, so it retains the bootable partition. Create an image of your XP cd with Imgburn or your favourite burning app, then burn it on a dvd instead of a cd (Copy image or similar commands). That's all.
Try with a dvd-r or -rw first: the DVD- or "dash" standard is older than the DVD+ or "plus" one and, as a rule of thumb, is more compatible with most older DVD readers while DVD+ works better on old Philips drives; never drives should read both standards without hassles.

Zandrax

I just tried what you said and I have some news. Everything turned out perfectly and now I've managed to make a bootable Windows XP DVD using imgburn.

Thanks.

[zandrax]

Re: How do I do this??

I just tried what you said and I have some news. Everything turned out perfectly and now I've managed to make a bootable Windows XP DVD using imgburn.

Don't mention it: anyway you can fill the free 4 GB with installers, drivers, tools and such by editing the image. Winimage can, maybe other utilities can edit ISOs too.

Zandrax