During the days of win98/ME, an essential tool for windows trouble-shooting is the bootdisk. That is because back then, windows was notoriously easy to break. System files occasionally got corrupted, or the boot sector got messed up by a virus. When the system refused to boot, we called bootdisk in to help out.

Windows system of today is more stable, such scenarios rarely happen. But when they do happen, and when the standard recovery process fails, the downtime could be costly. Most often, the trouble prevents the user from retrieving important files that are stored inside the hard disk. The tool that has replaced bootdisk and comes to the rescue is a Linux LiveCD.

There is no excuse not to have a Linux LiveCD right next to your computer at all times. (Learn how to make an Ubuntu Linux LiveCD here). You can perform the following tasks when disaster strikes, with a Linux LiveCD:

Basic use of Linux LiveCD:

To boot with Linux LiveCD, just start the computer and insert Linux LiveCD into your CD/DVD-ROM drive. If your computer allows the user to choose a boot device it will indicate the hotkey on the screen. Press the hotkey and select CD/DVD-ROM:

Otherwise, you need to change the boot order in BIOS (press a hotkey when computer starts, usually [Delete] to get into BIOS) in order for your computer to boot from CD/DVD-ROM automatically

If your computer successfully boots from your LiveCD, after some time, it will show the startup screen (example given here is using Ubuntu LiveCD):

1. Test memory with memtest86

If you are experiencing frequent crashes when running an application or seeing unexpected blue screens of death, you might want to check if your memory is malfunctioning. Select "Test memory" from the Ubuntu startup screen to launch memtest86. If there is any error during the tests, it's time to replace the faulty memory.

2. Copy the files out

To start Unbuntu Linux, choose the first option from the startup screen. After Ubuntu desktop successfully launches, plug your thumbdrive or external HDD into your USB port, and click "Computer" from the "Places" menu.

From the Computer File Browser, you can see all your storage devices, then you can transfer your files just like what you usually do in Windows.

3. Do office work

While the computer refuses to boot into Windows, you can do some document editing in Ubuntu using OpenOffice.org, a Microsoft Office replacement.

Your computer is automatically connected to the internet if you use a network connection. To connect via wireless connection, click the small wireless button on the top toolbar and choose the network you use. You will be prompted to enter your wireless password.

Advanced use of Linux LiveCD:

Linux LiveCD is capable of doing more sophisticated troubleshooting work. These will require some knowledge of Linux OS.

4. Scan filesystem for errors.

We remembered on one occassion in the past, our IDE controller miserably failed, and severely damaged the FAT filesystem on our harddisk. Windows scandisk could not finishing its scanning and we had to rely on Linux fsck tool to repair the filesystem. Now you can try to fix NTFS problems using the command (replacing /dev/hda1 with the code for your partition.)

ntfsfix /dev/hda1

5. Identify hardware

Linux has fantastic support for almost all hardware. Older Ubuntu versions come with a utility that displays the information of all hardware on your computer. But they dropped the utility out. On the newest Ubuntu, you can get the information of your hardware by using the lshw command

sudo lshw > Desktop/output.txt

This is useful if your Windows fail to detect your hardware or it reports a problem of some kind. You can ascertain if this is a problem with your Windows or your hardware by trying to detect it in Linux.

6. Recover data on a dead hard drive

Although Windows couldn't read anything from it, if the hard drive still can spin, you might have a chance to recover some data from it, using the Linux command dd. This article shows you how: Recover a dead hard drive using dd.

7. Restore registry

An article from iTWire shows how to restore registry using Linux LiveCD, by just replacing the corrupted registry file with a healthy copy.

8. Fixing Master Boot Record

You can fix your Master Boot Record with a Linux LiveCD (actually you can do this with Windows Installation CD too).

9. Repair a partition table

Found your boot sector damanged? or a partition corrupted or accidentally deleted? You can recover a missing partition and repair a corrupted one using TestDisk under Linux.

Making an Ubuntu Linux LiveCD

You need a blank CD and a CD burner.

1. Ubuntu LiveCD ISO image can be downloaded from Ubuntu Official Website. Choose 32bit or 64bit depending on what kind of processor you have, for AMD64 processor, choose the 64bit version. The ISO filename looks like ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso.

2. Install and use a CD-recording software such as Infra recorder to burn the ISO image onto the blank CD.

Insert the blank CD -> Open Infra Recorder -> Click Write Image -> Open the Ubuntu ISO -> Click OK

3. Instructions for other CD-recording software can be found at How to burn your CD / DVD ISO.

4. Alternatively, you can buy Ubuntu CD.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment

Name: Email:   Website: Title: UBBCode:         -color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge

Joomla components by Compojoom