Recover data from broken machine

[SimpleSi]

I've got a teacher's daughter's laptop at home and the Vista OS is borked and won't boot

 

I'm trying to get her data off but it won't let me see/copy the contents of her Documents folder - my bootable Bart PE XP disc says its password protected but doesn't give me the option of entering the password (Which I know) to get at the data

 

Any suggestions on how to get around this please?

 

regards

 

Simon

[t_h]

Never used the Bart PE disc, but provided the drive isn't encrypted I'd use a Linux live CD to mount the filesystem and backup the data.

[Michael]

Have you tried repairing Vista? It's actually pretty good and an improvement over XP.

[SimpleSi]

Downloading latest Ubuntu DVD to see what that thinks of it -ta

 

Tried repairing it using the Vista repair CD but it just says it can't repair it- got it back to showing up as an OS on the boot screen but says it had an unknown type of error and suggests re-install.

 

Can't recover to previous restore point as there isn't one

 

regards

 

Simon

[FN-GM]

Plug the hard drive into a windows machine and take ownership of the folder.

[Michael]

Plug the hard drive into a windows machine and take ownership of the folder

 

I agree if a repair isn't successful, unless the files are encrypted...

[SimpleSi]

Its a laptop and I haven't got a desktop machine or a caddy to put it into

 

regards

 

Simon

[Ignatius]

I did exactly the same data recovery a week ago using this tutorial and the latest Ubuntu desktop live CD. It worked like a treat! Edited October 11, 2009 by Ignatius

[Michael]

Its a laptop and I haven't got a desktop machine or a caddy to put it into

 

If it's a laptop SATA hard drive, you can use the same data and power cables as with desktop SATA hard drives.

[srochford]

Is BartPE actually saying "password protected" or is it just denying access? If it's the former then I've no idea what's going on but if it's the latter then you should just be able to take ownership in BartPE.

 

I think the ACL format has changed in Vista; with an XP disc, you could put it in any other machine or boot from Bart etc and you would have access. With Vista this isn't the case but it's perfectly possible to take ownership and then (if necessary) give yourself rights to the files.

[SimpleSi]

I've booted it off an Ubunutu CD and its copying the folders fine

 

Thanks for suggestions

 

regards

 

Simon

[t_h]

Glad it worked, I do it all the time. I always have a distro or two in my CD wallet.

[SimpleSi]

Since I found this "special" BartPE CD in a 2nd hand-machine - I've been using it for the past 2 years to boot up broken machines - when I checked my CD wallet - the last ubunutu live CD said Breezy on it

 

Once the copying is finished (42GB of stuff!) I'll use the CD to see if I can create a bootable USB key version of it.

 

regards

 

Simon

Edited October 12, 2009 by SimpleSi

[Ignatius]

Since I found this "special" BartPE CD in a 2nd hand-machine - I've been using it for the past 2 years to boot up broken machines ...

So you don't mean the usual BartPE that's created from an XP installation disk? Can you elaborate why it's "special"? I tried using the standard BartPE that I created in the Vista laptop but it didn't like the hardware so that's why I resorted to the Ubuntu live CD.

[SimpleSi]

Its got lots of stuff on it that I doubt were properly licensed!

 

regards

 

Simon

[mpe]

Downloading latest Ubuntu DVD to see what that thinks of it -ta

 

You might do better going to SystemRescueCd Might not look as pretty as Ubuntu but is a lot smaller and has all the tools you'll need.

[Ignatius]

Its got lots of stuff on it that I doubt were properly licensed!

Nuff said