Command line core to salvage Windows files?

[genec]

Also Remastering topics for various techniques.

The idea you present is rather intriguing (enough so that I may consider making another personal remaster).  However, I'd also add this advice:

1) Due to your "unfamiliarity with Linux", I'd suggest you become familiar first.  You don't want to accidentally do something wrong, especially to make an already strenuous situation worse.

2) If I were fixing machines like this, I wouldn't trust an end-user to perform command line tasks and I'd likely do something like a reverse SSH to do it myself.

[theYinYeti]

@someguy201: It seems to me that maybe you should better state your goal. Maybe what you want to achieve can be done an easier way…
Now, as gerald_clark said, as things look right now, you indeed only have to remaster with the additional packages. Then maybe you’ll want to create a simple bash menu script that will handle the operations you want to achieve.

By the way, did you know that installing TinyCore, without any extensions, is just a matter of putting 2 files on a drive and pointing to them with a Linux-aware boot-loader? Maybe it would be simpler for you to just put TinyCore and a couple of extensions right into your Windows drive…

tYY.

[someguy201]

@theYinYeti - My goal is as stated. I originally wanted to repair a specific PC, but I'd like to use TinyCore more generally as a lightweight tool to repair Windows boot or malware issues. I help out a fair bit on various online tech forums - if a user has an infection and can't boot, I'd like them to be able to download a small tool onto a USB drive or CD, and run a couple of commands. A bash script is a good idea - I've used xPud before with some scripts someone else wrote to do something similar. Things like enumerate Windows drivers etc and replace files etc.

Thanks for all the replies and help with TinyCore.

[tinypoodle]

I'd like to use TinyCore more generally as a lightweight tool to repair Windows boot or malware issues. I help out a fair bit on various online tech forums - if a user has an infection and can't boot, I'd like them to be able to download a small tool onto a USB drive or CD, and run a couple of commands.

Note that if you mount an unclean ntfs partition in read-write mode under Linux before having attempted to run chkdsk on it from the win recovery console you take a good chance of creating more damage and in worst case rendering it irreversibly unbootable...

[someguy201]

Whys that? Is there not any way to mount the partition safely in Linux? Larger distro's seem to safely access Windows files without issue.

The intended use for this would be when a computer is unable to access the Windows Recovery Console and can't boot - the only option for a user at this point is generally a full reinstall anyway.

[gerald_clark]

Did you read the ntfs3g info file?
Is says to use at your own risk.

[someguy201]

I know, that's not what I'm asking. If there is no open source equivalent to chkdsk available, is there any way to safely mount a "dirty" partition? Larger distros are frequently used to access Windows files from unbootable PCs - particularly after hard drive failures or malware. Are these larger distros doing something different that makes the operation safer, or is the risk not as high as suggested?

[bmarkus]

I know, that's not what I'm asking. If there is no open source equivalent to chkdsk available, is there any way to safely mount a "dirty" partition? Larger distros are frequently used to access Windows files from unbootable PCs - particularly after hard drive failures or malware. Are these larger distros doing something different that makes the operation safer, or is the risk not as high as suggested?

It is about ntfs-3g version used, not the distro itself. There were issues with older ntfs-3g versions in the past mounting dirty partitions. Using a proper ntfs-3g Tiny Core Linux do not impose higher risk than thes so called 'big' distros.


BTW, current upstream version is 2013.1.13

[curaga]

Are these larger distros doing something different that makes the operation safer, or is the risk not as high as suggested?

The rescue distros will only mount read-only, which is completely safe. You want to mount RW, which has some risk with NTFS, in all distros.

[someguy201]

Thanks for the info - I've seen xPud used fairly often to write to the ntfs partition without issue. I'll bear in mind that it may damage the partition, but I would generally only be using this as a "last resort" option.

Thank you all for the replies.

[tinypoodle]

Whys that?

Because specs of ntfs are not known better...

Is there not any way to mount the partition safely in Linux?

Not with ntfs in read/write mode unless the fs is clean. There is with msdos/vfat in any case (dosfsck).

Larger distro's seem to safely access Windows files without issue.

The only difference could be that larger distros may include ntfs-3g by default which with Core needs to be loaded as extension, there is no black magic...

The intended use for this would be when a computer is unable to access the Windows Recovery Console and can't boot - the only option for a user at this point is generally a full reinstall anyway.

If win recovery console can't be accessed on hdd, then it might still be accessed on cd.

[Juanito]

Almost my first venture into linux was to try and copy files from a windows machine that wouldn't boot.

Since that time, I've used dsl/tinycorelinex five or six times to rescue various windows machines that wouldn't boot and, in every case, it has fixed what was a seemingly insurmountable problem to windows in 5 minutes flat.

Typically windows complains something.dll is missing/corrupted, the windows "rescue" disk does nothing at all, you copy something.dll from a different windows installation onto a tinycorelinux usb stick, boot from it, mount the windows partition with ntfs-3g and copy the file over. On reboot, windows automatically runs chkdsk and you're back in business.

[bmarkus]

Almost my first venture into linux was to try and copy files from a windows machine that wouldn't boot.

Since that time, I've used dsl/tinycorelinex five or six times to rescue various windows machines that wouldn't boot and, in every case, it has fixed what was a seemingly insurmountable problem to windows in 5 minutes flat.

Typically windows complains something.dll is missing/corrupted, the windows "rescue" disk does nothing at all, you copy something.dll from a different windows installation onto a tinycorelinux usb stick, boot from it, mount the windows partition with ntfs-3g and copy the file over. On reboot, windows automatically runs chkdsk and you're back in business.

While this prucedure is OK for a geek, it wil not work with an ordinary WINDOWS user, as it is planned at the beginning of the thread.

[tinypoodle]

If there is no open source equivalent to chkdsk available, is there any way to safely mount a "dirty" partition?

Yes, in read-only mode.
Or in read-write mode after first having made an image of the partition to keep an option to reverse potential damage.

Larger distros are frequently used to access Windows files from unbootable PCs - particularly after hard drive failures or malware. Are these larger distros doing something different that makes the operation safer, or is the risk not as high as suggested?

The risk is exactly the same with ntfs-3g under any Linux system.
The question is, frequently by whom? Certainly not by anyone caring about avoiding unnecessary risks of data loss.