Accessing Windows files through Linux Phoenix 2009.4
Probably not a good idea to install Linux - just yet 
To access a drive from the CD, you could do some command line stuff.
1st create an empty directory [this will have a kind of virtual existence in memory]
Then mount your C: drive (using the mount command)
(Note - use any tool to find out which partition Windows is loaded on - that hda1 might be sda1 etc
The -r option makes it readonly
Then browse that windows directory...
When you are done,
To access a drive from the CD, you could do some command line stuff.
1st create an empty directory [this will have a kind of virtual existence in memory]
mkdir windows
Then mount your C: drive (using the mount command)
mount /dev/hda1 windows -t ntfs -r
(Note - use any tool to find out which partition Windows is loaded on - that hda1 might be sda1 etc
The -r option makes it readonly
Then browse that windows directory...
When you are done,
umount windows
That looks a bit chinese, !
but I will give it a go. and see what happens. ! Thanks
EDIT....
do I do that with the Linux Phoenix CD running?
Yes! (Note that I've never used Linux Phoenix)!
But those instructions cannot cause any writes to your hard disk.
But those instructions cannot cause any writes to your hard disk.
Quote from: shutter Thanks very much for your help... When I have some time, I think I may play around with Phoenix, and I also got Slax to have a go with too...
If you are having problems with PCLinuxOS then Slax will horrify you
PCLInuxOS and Linux Mint are a lot more user friendly than Slax is (I have been using Linux for nearly 3 years full time and I find Slax hard going. Great if you want to build a completely custom box but not if you just want to use it!)
OK biker... thanks for that... I just saw it somewhere and downloaded it, "just in case" ...will ditch the disc... and stick with the Phoenix for now... (which will reside in my laptop bag until I get some inspiration ! ! !)
OK Thanks. 
Quote from: Taxisofevil Then mount your C: drive (using the mount command) mount /dev/hda1 windows -t ntfs -r
Obviously that will only work if the Linux kernel is configured with the NTFS driver!
To check whether the NTFS driver is configured type this:
cat /proc/filesystems
The output will look something like this:
nodev sysfs
nodev rootfs
nodev bdev
nodev proc
nodev tmpfs
nodev sockfs
nodev usbfs
nodev pipefs
nodev anon_inodefs
nodev inotifyfs
nodev devpts
ext2
nodev ramfs
vfat
iso9660
jfs
If "ntfs" is missing from the output (as in the case above) then your Linux kernel will require the NTFS driver to be loaded before it can mount the NTFS file system. With luck your Linux CD will already include the NTFS driver as a loadable module. Unless your Linux CD desktop includes a program to load kernel modules, you will need to load the module by hand: make sure you are logged in as "root" and type the following:
modprobe ntfs
If "modprobe" prints an error message then your Linux CD probably does not include the NTFS driver. If that is the case then you are pretty much stuck; you will need to try another Linux CD.
If "modprobe" prints no errors then the NTFS driver will have been loaded. Type "cat /proc/filesystems" again to make sure.
The next issue is to identify the name of the disk partition containing the NTFS file system. Type the following:
cat /proc/partitions
The output will look something like this:
major minor #blocks name
8 0 312571224 sda
8 1 65535 sda1
8 2 9437184 sda2
8 3 9437184 sda3
8 4 293631320 sda4
The right hand column contains the names of the disk(s) and disk partitions. In the above output, there is one disk called "sda" with four partitions - "sda1", "sda2", "sda3" and "sda4". On your PC you might have more than one disk, and the partitions might be called something like "hda1" (etc) instead of "sda1" (etc). These disk partitions are accessed via the file system under the "/dev" directory, for example "/dev/hda1". In theory one (or more) of these disk partitions will contain your NTFS file system(s).
At this point you should be able to retry the mount command using the identified disk partition names. The following assumes you have a directory called "/mnt" on your Linux CD; if not substitute some other directory (e.g. create a new one called "/tmp/windows").
To mount partition 1 (e.g. "/dev/hda1") as "/mnt" type the following:
mount -t ntfs -r /dev/hda1 /mnt
If "mount" prints an error message, try the next partition:
mount -t ntfs -r /dev/hda2 /mnt
and so on, until either (1) "mount" prints no errors, or (2) you have exhausted all the disk partitions.
If "mount" succeeded then your NTFS file system should be visible at /mnt:
ls /mnt
When you are finished with the NTFS file system you unmount it again with the "umount" command:
umount /mnt
If you want to be able to write to the NTFS file system, repeat the mount command without the "-r" (read-only) option:
mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /mnt
I hope all goes well!