Adding another OS using Grub4DOS

[Earthling]

A while ago k0lo helped me in separating my XP and Vista installations, and installing Grub4DOS as boot manager. It has been so successful that I have made the mistake of advocating this setup to others, and as a result I am now being asked to help in doing it :argh:

k0lo's advice on adding a second OS was -

"So now if you want to add another OS on your machine just create a partition for it, install it, and add another menu item to your menu.lst file. Note that since you have a boot manager, the need for installing operating systems in primary partitions goes away. You can add any other OS, even Windows, to logical partitions and they can be booted from grub4DOS."

The party in question has a Vista installation and wants to add XP Pro, and I need to know if this raises any special issues. Normally Vista is installed after XP, not before. Also, I was wondering whether doing this would overwrite the MBR, and what to do if it does.

[K0LO]

-{ Quote: "...The party in question has a Vista installation and wants to add XP Pro, and I need to know if this raises any special issues. Normally Vista is installed after XP, not before. Also, I was wondering whether doing this would overwrite the MBR, and what to do if it does." }-Hi, Earthling:
To do this I would advise hiding the Vista partition (and any others containing Microsoft Operating Systems) and un-hiding the soon-to-be XP partition before doing the install. Also, make this new partition active.

Then install XP. Yes, it will replace the MBR with its own, so after installation the PC will boot directly into XP. To fix, reinstall Grub4Dos, which will replace the XP MBR with its own.

Next you will need to add a few lines to the menu.lst file for Grub4Dos. Basically, to boot XP:
1. Hide the Vista partition (and any others with MS OSes)
2. Unhide the XP partition
3. Make the XP partition active

Also, in the menu entry for booting Vista, make sure that you hide the XP partition and make the Vista partition active when booting Vista.

That should do it. Post the menu.lst file if you run into trouble.

[Earthling]

Mark:

Thanks for that. It sounds straightforward enough, so let's hope the guy who has to follow my guidance doesn't make any of the mistakes I made at the time!

[Earthling]

While waiting for the other guy I thought I'd install Mandriva 2009 on my XP laptop, partly to see whether I could do it. Of course, it installed Grub as boot loader, but I wanted my Grub4DOS boot loader back, so I booted into XP and reinstalled that.

Unfortunately I can't now find the right commands in menu.lst to boot Mandriva. Currently I've got -

title Mandriva
root (hd0,4)
# these two lines are OK
find --set-root /sbin/init
# that produces a file not found error, but the file exists. Is the syntax wrong?
configfile /root/grub/menu.lst
# file does exist, but until line above clears I can't see whether it works.

TIA

[K0LO]

Earthling:

Try manual mode. Boot to Grub4DOS and when the menu screen comes up, type a "c" (for command). Enter the following lines manually, pressing the "Enter" key at the end of each line:
root (hd0,4)
cat /boot/grub/menu.lst (or is it /root/grub/menu.lst)?
If you enter the correct path to Mandriva's menu.lst file then it should print out on the terminal. Copy down the commands that are used to boot Linux. There should be a line for the kernel and one for the initial RAM disk image file. For example, this is from my Kubuntu distribution:
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.15-53-386 root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet vga=795
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.15-53-386Now, enter each of the two lines manually into the GRUB command terminal. An advantage of doing it this way is that you get to see if there are any error messages. If both lines are accepted then enter "boot". Mandriva Linux should then boot.

If this works, put the lines in your Grub4DOS menu.lst file.

[Earthling]

Getting late here now Mark, so that will be for tomorrow. Thanks again friend :)

Bernard

[Earthling]

Mark:

I got only Grub error messages, but my partition structure was such a mess after four years of messing about I decided first to repartition, retaining only XP on hd0,0 and partitioning the rest more logically. I now have -

hd0,0 Primary NTFS XP
hd0,1 Primary FAT32 Data
hd0.2 Primary NTFS VistaPE
hd0,3 }
hd0.4 } Mandriva
hd0,5 }

I have to have VistaPE because the DVD drive is so unreliable I can't be certain I can boot the Acronis rescue disk should I need to.

After installing Mandriva I have the Grub GUI, which has boot entries for XP and Mandriva, but doesn't have one for VistaPE. Trying to add that I can't see how I can add the chainloader /bootmgr command it requires in order to be bootable. If I could solve that I would stick with Grub as bootloader rather than reinstalling Grub4DOS (which can boot VistaPE of course).

If I reinstall Grub4DOS I can boot XP and VistaPE, but not Mandriva. Using Grub commands like find /vmlinuz and find /sbin/init I just get Error 17 File not found. With Grub4DOS in the MBR it's just as if Mandriva was never installed.

I really don't care what boot loader I use on this machine as long as it can boot all three. Grub would seem the best bet, but can anyone help with the boot entry for it?

[K0LO]

Bernard:

I'm at a loss to understand why Grub4DOS cannot see your Mandriva partition. I presume that you currently have things set up to use GRUB, which can see Mandriva OK, correct? If true can you post a copy of the Mandriva boot stanza from GRUB's menu.lst file? Also, could you post the output of sudo fdisk -l when run in a Mandriva terminal?

You can indeed boot VistaPE from GRUB as follows:rootnoverify (hd0,2)
chainloader +1To chainload properly the VistaPE partition must have a Vista partition boot record. Depending on how you created the partition, it may not. If you created the partition with DD or with XP, then it will have an XP boot record. You can change it to the Vista style with the bootsect command, which requires a copy of the file bootsect.exe. This file is on a Vista recovery DVD, and is usually included in a VistaPE build that was made with WinBuilder. Check in your VistaPE partition for the file; it will be in the \boot folder as a hidden, system file. If not there, go to your WinBuilder folder and look for WinBuilder\Target\VistaPE\Boot\bootsect.exe

Bootsect.exe can be run from an XP command prompt, so you could put a copy of the file on your XP desktop and run it from there. You need to know the current drive letter of the VistaPE partition - I'll use E: for this example, which will install the Vista boot record to your E: partition:bootsect /nt60 E:Run the command bootsect /? to see the syntax. After you update the VistaPE partition's boot sector to the Vista style then you should be able to directly boot VistaPE by chainloading from GRUB.

[Earthling]

Thanks Mark, that has worked a treat, and Grub is now booting all three. I did need the Vista style partition boot record for VistaPE as you suggested.

Bernard

[K0LO]

Bernard:

Glad that worked. If you're not thoroughly sick of this yet, I would still be interested in figuring out why Grub4DOS was having problems. I prefer it to GRUB since it has added a number of features, including the ability to work with NTFS partitions.

[Earthling]

Extract from menu.lst -

title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=12e48e8e-5d68-436d-9b04-e2dbb47640c0 resume=UUID=72e46a0a-f2d7-40e8-8f76-80ac87f3ee9c splash=silent vga=788
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title linux-nonfb
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux-nonfb root=UUID=12e48e8e-5d68-436d-9b04-e2dbb47640c0 resume=UUID=72e46a0a-f2d7-40e8-8f76-80ac87f3ee9c
initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=failsafe root=UUID=12e48e8e-5d68-436d-9b04-e2dbb47640c0 failsafe


and fdisk -l

[root@localhost ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x2472a791

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 1778 14281753+ 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2 1779 8282 52243380 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sda3 8283 8366 674730 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda4 8367 9729 10948297+ 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 8367 9385 8185086 83 Linux
/dev/sda6 9386 9473 706828+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda7 9474 9729 2056288+ 83 Linux
[root@localhost ~]#

[K0LO]

-{ Quote: "Currently I've got -

title Mandriva
root (hd0,4)
# these two lines are OK
find --set-root /sbin/init
# that produces a file not found error, but the file exists. Is the syntax wrong?
configfile /root/grub/menu.lst
# file does exist, but until line above clears I can't see whether it works.

TIA" }--{ Quote: "title linux
kernel (hd0,4)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=UUID=12e48e8e-5d68-436d-9b04-e2dbb47640c0 resume=UUID=72e46a0a-f2d7-40e8-8f76-80ac87f3ee9c splash=silent vga=788 initrd (hd0,4)/boot/initrd.img" }-I think the highlighted terms were the problem. Apparently, there is no file at /sbin/init, so the automatic search for the root directory "find --set-root /sbin/init" fails. And the kernel is at /boot, not /root. Since you know where the Mandriva partition is located, this should work:root (hd0,4)
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

[Earthling]

I don't think that can be right Mark. Every find command failed, not just those two, including find /vmlinuz. Also, init is an executable located in /sbin, so the serach for that shouldn't have failed either should it?

I need to find out how to do screenshots in Mandriva!

I'm on a steep Linux learning curve here, but if I can find a window to have another go at booting Mandriva from Grub4DOS I will

Bernard

EDIT - btw that /root/grub/menu.lst was simply a typo. Should have been /boot etc

[K0LO]

-{ Quote: "I don't think that can be right Mark. Every find command failed, not just those two, including find /vmlinuz." }-So Grub4DOS can't find anything? But isn't the file vmlinuz located at /boot/vmlinuz? Try searching for some file that you are absolutely certain of its location in the file system.
-{ Quote: "I need to find out how to do screenshots in Mandriva!" }-Are you using KDE? If so, most distributions include KSnapshot, a screen capture program. That's the one that I use - it includes a delay feature so that you can take snapshots of the screen with a menu dropped down.

[Earthling]

Can't really answer these questions Mark until I've got a a local image from which I can quickly restore the MBR. I'll get one.

Thanks for the KSnapshot tip.

[Earthling]

Mark:

-{ Quote: "So Grub4DOS can't find anything? But isn't the file vmlinuz located at /boot/vmlinuz? Try searching for some file that you are absolutely certain of its location in the file system." }-
Added your suggested Mandriva stanza in menu.lst and reinstalled Grub4DOS, but it doesn't work - Error 2 Bad file or directory type.

Tried root (hd0,4) followed by find /boot [TAB] and find /boot/grub/menu.lst [Enter] .... both produce Error 17 File not found

Now reinstalling Grub, but will do further tests if you want them

Bernard

[K0LO]

Bernard:

That's really baffling. From the GRUB documentation:-{ Quote: "17 : Cannot mount selected partition
This error is returned if the partition requested exists, but the filesystem type cannot be recognized by GRUB." }-I assume that you are using one of the popular Linux filesystems; probably ext3, correct?

The only thing that comes to mind is that, from checking the Mandriva forum, Mandriva 2009 formats the disk with a 256-byte inode size whereas 128-byte inodes have been the standard in the past. Perhaps Grub4DOS can't decode ext3 partitions with the larger inode size? That's pure speculation on my part. Regular GRUB appears to do OK since it does allow you to boot into Mandriva.

With regular GRUB installed can you do this:root (hd0,4)
find /boot/grub/menu.lstwithout getting any error messages? If so it would point to Grub4DOS having an issue with the file system that is in use on your Linux root partition.

[Earthling]

Looks like you've put your finger on it Mark. Find works in grub, not in grub4DOS. The Linux Ext3 partitions were created during the Mandriva install.

[K0LO]

Well isn't that interesting. The other surprise that you will have in store is that Disk Director and True Image will probably be unable to decode your Mandriva partition contents with the 256-byte inode size. TI will do a sector-by-sector backup and restore, but not a normal one, so your images will be larger. And I'll bet that if you use Disk Director to explore the contents of one of the Mandriva partitions, you will not see any files. But I'm surprised that Grub4DOS was unable to understand ext3 with 256-byte inodes.

Paul (MudCrab) informed me that there is a recent update for Grub4DOS, so later tonight I'll look in the change log to see if they've fixed that. A few people on the TI forum have run into this issue with TI, so I don't know when or if Acronis will support ext3 with 256-byte inodes.

If any of this bothers you there is an alternative. You could use Disk Director to delete the ext3 partitions, then re-create them. They will be created with 128-byte inodes. Then install Mandriva but don't let it format the partitions; just mount the existing ones. If you do this then Grub4DOS and DD and TI will be able to work with the Mandriva partitions.

Do you mind trying to explore one of your partitions with DD and let us know if you can see files? That would confirm our suspicions.

[Earthling]

All falling into place! I was wondering why TI was complaining about my partitions and doing a sector-by-sector backup!

If I believed this laptop's creaking DVD drive would co-operate in a reinstall that's the way I would go, but as it took at least 10 tries to get the Mandriva CD booted this time I just don't want to risk it.

I'll have a look at DD, though probably not tonight.

[MudCrab]

Mark,

The latest build of Grub4DOS (http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/grub4dos-0.4.4-2008-11-19.zip) can find a file on an Ext3 partition I created with Ubuntu 8.10. DD can't read the partition so I'm pretty sure it's using 256-byte inodes (I think others have posted this too). I setup my 8.10 using Ext3 partitions created with DD to avoid this problem.

What's the command in Ubuntu/Linux to see what inode value is being used?

***EDIT*** Okay, I found it.
My test partitions are /dev/sdc1 and /dev/sdc2, so the following will display the inode values:
sudo dumpe2fs /dev/sdc1 | grep -i "inode size"
sudo dumpe2fs /dev/sdc2 | grep -i "inode size"
/dev/sdc1 was created with Ubuntu 8.10 and uses 256-byte inodes. The latest build of Grub4DOS found a file on it okay.

[K0LO]

Another way to find out info about the file system: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-show-contents-of-filesystem-superblock-inode/

[Earthling]

Just to put the cat among the pigeons it seems DD can see the files on my Ext3

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "Another way to find out info about the file system: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-show-contents-of-filesystem-superblock-inode/" }-
That works too. Thanks. I've saved it in my Ubuntu file.

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "Just to put the cat among the pigeons it seems DD can see the files on my Ext3" }-
Interesting. Neither Full or Safe Mode will see my 8.10 Ext3 partition correctly. It even shows up with the red "c" on the partition image. The error message is: Unsupported file system version

[K0LO]

Bernard:

That's unexpected to have DD be able to view the 256-inode partition for you, and not for Paul. Maybe its an issue of shared dlls and files between TI and DD and the order in which they are installed.

This is from the Grub4DOS changelog:2008-06-28 fixed ext3-inode-size issue in grldr boot sector and bootlace.inc.
2008-06-24 fixed "256-byte ext3 inode size" issue in fsys_ext2fs.c.At least this confirms that the problem has been fixed in Grub4DOS. So in theory you could download the latest version from the link in post #21 and unzip it. You only need to copy the file grldr to your VistaPE partition and then Grub4DOS should be able to understand 256-inode ext3 partitions.

[Earthling]

Mark and Paul:

As I've finally, and with your help managed to get this old laptop booting XP, Mandriva and VistaPE satisfactorily I shall now leave Grub in place, but I've downloaded the latest version of Grub4DOS in case I should need it on the desktop.

For the present though Vista remains the OS of choice on the desktop, with Grub4DOS as bootloader, and a VM (VirtualBox) to give me quick access to XP and Linux systems.

I don't have the need to come here that often, but each time I do I come away with a stack of understanding I didn't have before with which I can impress the folk back home. So please don't go away ;)

[Earthling]

-{ Quote: "... there is an alternative. You could use Disk Director to delete the ext3 partitions, then re-create them. They will be created with 128-byte inodes. Then install Mandriva but don't let it format the partitions; just mount the existing ones. If you do this then Grub4DOS and DD and TI will be able to work with the Mandriva partitions ..." }-
No can do it seems Mark. Mandriva insists on reformatting first before doing the live install. This is a bit of a pain, as TI can only do sector-by-sector backups with the 256 byte inode format.

Or am I missing the point here?

Bernard

[K0LO]

I'm not familiar with Mandriva, but Kubuntu has a few different versions of its installer available. The LiveCD version is automatic and will format the partitions during the install, like it or not. But they also have what's called an "Alternate Install" CD, which gives the user lots of choices during the install process. Does Mandriva have something similar?

[Earthling]

not a downloadable version as far as I can see.

[K0LO]

Bernard:

I took a look at the online docs for Mandriva 2009. It appears that there is only one version distributed, but the installer does allow you to use existing partitions. Take a look here (http://doc.mandriva.com/en/2009/Mastering-Manual/Mastering-Manual.html/drakxid-doPartitionDisks.html) at this part of the installation manual. You would choose "Use Existing Partitions" and then specify the mount points for the partitions that you set up and formatted previously with Disk Director. From your previous posts, it looks like you had three Linux partitions, so they would be / (root), /home, and /swap probably. Point the installer to each of these partitions and make sure that you don't let it format the partitions.

[Earthling]

That's exactly how it goes, except it wouldn't let me proceed without formatting the root partition.

I've just finished a clean install and backed it up, but I'd love to get this aspect sorted. I'll have another go, DVD drive permitting!

[K0LO]

I found this on the Mandriva forum, and it doesn't look encouraging:-{ Quote: "Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 9:06 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to the original problem.

When you install Mandriva it will format the / partition, there is no way around this, it gets done or you don't install.

I have no easy way to test this but perhaps the UUID of a partition changes when you format it.

Ken
K Bergen
Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 1953
Location: Chilliwack B.C. Canada" }-You could also look at the advanced options in DiskDrake to see if you can get any control over the installer. If there is no way around this, then avoid formatting your /home and /swap partitions when you install and just let the installer go ahead and format the root partition.

With Linux there are always multiple ways to skin a cat. You can't easily do this in Windows but I've done it before with Linux. You need the capability to run a Live Linux distribution from your laptop so that you can work on the Mandriva root partition when it is not in use, and you need a place to store a couple of GB worth of files (USB hard disk, USB flash drive, etc). Here's the basic idea:

1. Boot to a Live Linux CD. If your Mandriva install disk does not allow booting into a Live version, use Knoppix, Ubuntu, etc. Live CDs.
2. (sudo fdisk -l) to determine the device numbers of the Mandriva partitions on your hard disk. The root partition was /dev/sda5 on a previous post of yours.
3. Mount the root partition (sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt).
4. Copy all of the files from the mounted root partition to a storage device. You can mass copy the entire partition into a gzip archive if you look up the command syntax for gzip, or perhaps you can do it graphically with drag and drop from Konqueror or the file manager.
4. Reboot to DD and delete the root partition. Reformat it as ext3 to get 128-byte inodes
5. Back to the Live Linux CD. Remount the root partition.
6. Copy all of the root files back to the partition, or expand the gzip archive to the root partition. Unmount the partition (sudo umount /mnt)
7. Boot to Mandriva

If this all fails spectacularly you may be stuck with 256-byte inodes. I can't find a word about this on the Mandriva forums, other than acknowledgement that this is the format the installer uses when creating partitions. If I got you all messed up then restore the partition from one of your TI images.

[Earthling]

Wow! Reading that I don't think I'll bother trying another live install, as it's just going to go the same way again. I do have everything backed up so am happy to try anything. When/if I can get my head around what you are suggesting Mark I'll give it a whirl.

Let you know.

[Earthling]

Mark:

Finally managed to boot from CD, but the copying process has stopped with the message

"The file or folder /mnt/boot/kernel.h does not exist"

with options to Skip or Cancel.

Don't know much about Linux but I believe the copying process starts by creating all the folders on the target and then copies the files across, so that error looks pretty fundamental to me.

I might try using TI for this, by first imaging the root partition, then formatting with DD, and then using TI to copy all the files back. This would avoid the problem of this dysfunctional CD drive too.

Late Edit - Trying to use TI to restore all files and folders to the DD formatted partition TI says the partition is corrupted and unreadable. Looks as if Ext3 128 and 256 inode partitions are incompatible. A normal image restore from the same image works fine. Or perhaps you can't restore selected files and folders from a sector-by-sector image??

[K0LO]

-{ Quote: "Mark:
Finally managed to boot from CD, but the copying process has stopped with the message
"The file or folder /mnt/boot/kernel.h does not exist"" }-What method are you using to copy? The file kernel.h is the hex source code for the Linux kernel, and most Linux distributions would not keep this file in the /boot directory because it is fairly large, so I suspect that they instead keep a symbolic link to the file. Perhaps your copy program is unable to deal with symlinks.

-{ Quote: "Late Edit - Trying to use TI to restore all files and folders to the DD formatted partition TI says the partition is corrupted and unreadable. Looks as if Ext3 128 and 256 inode partitions are incompatible. A normal image restore from the same image works fine. Or perhaps you can't restore selected files and folders from a sector-by-sector image??" }-I would expect this behavior since TI cannot decode ext3 with 256-byte inodes.

Maybe you can try the compressed archive approach using the Linux command tar. The syntax is described here (http://kb.iu.edu/data/acfi.html). It is kind of the same principle as TI but at the file level. This is something I've done previously on a root partition to create a backup and restore it. This first command will create a compressed backup file. Let's assume that you are running from a Live Linux CD that can read your hard disk, you've mounted the Mandriva root partition at /mnt and that you've plugged in a USB hard disk as a destination for your archive file, and it got mounted as /media/sdb1:sudo tar -cvzf /media/sdb1/mybackup.tar /mnt/*should create the backup archive from the contents of everything (*) in the folder /mnt (your mounted Mandriva partition) to the file "mybackup.tar" on a USB hard disk that is at /media/sdb1. The command's options mean the following:-{ Quote: " -c combine files into an archive
-v be verbose
-z use gzip compression
-f use a file (instead of writing to tape)" }-After you have the file you should be able to view its contents. With KDE you can use the archive viewer Ark and just click through the archive structure to view its contents to assure yourself that you have a complete backup.

After reformatting your Mandriva root partition to ext3 with 128-byte inodes, reboot into the Live Linux CD and mount the partition at /mnt/ again. Restore the archive with:cd /mnt
sudo tar -xvzf /media/sdb1/mybackup.tarwhere the -x option means extract. The archive file will be expanded and all of the files in the archive should be put back in the right places. At this point you should be able to browse through the /mnt folder and see the structure of the Mandriva root partition.

Reboot to Mandriva to test. If successful you can convert the /home partition the same way. Simply recreating /swap with DD should be sufficient unless Mandriva does what Ubuntu is doing and uses UUIDs to refer to the swap partition instead of the more-common /dev/sdax notation. Post back if that happens - the symptom would be that the laptop will hibernate OK but will reboot instead of resuming from hibernation.

[Earthling]

-{ Quote: "What method are you using to copy? The file kernel.h is the hex source code for the Linux kernel, and most Linux distributions would not keep this file in the /boot directory because it is fairly large, so I suspect that they instead keep a symbolic link to the file. Perhaps your copy program is unable to deal with symlinks." }-
KDE4 has a new file manager, Dolphin, which is like My Computer and My Network Places all rolled into one. I ran that as su, and apart from this kernel.h problem it was running fine.

-{ Quote: "I would expect this behavior since TI cannot decode ext3 with 256-byte inodes." }-
All it had been asked to do was copy files, one by one, from a sector-by-sector image of a 256 byte inode partition to a newly formatted 128 byte inode partition. You are sure this shouldn't work? I ask because it seems this DVD drive is truly down and out, and TI offered what I see as my only hope here. Your other suggestions all require the ability to boot or read CDs, which seems to be a thing of the past. The drive is not replaceable, and there is no compatible alternative.

[K0LO]

-{ Quote: "KDE4 has a new file manager, Dolphin, which is like My Computer and My Network Places all rolled into one. I ran that as su, and apart from this kernel.h problem it was running fine." }-Were you running Dolphin from a LiveCD or from your installed Mandriva distribution? The file system that you are copying cannot be in use while making the copy, so this must be done from a LiveCD.
-{ Quote: "...All it (TI) had been asked to do was copy files, one by one, from a sector-by-sector image of a 256 byte inode partition to a newly formatted 128 byte inode partition." }-Therein lies the problem. Since TI can't decode ext3 with 256-byte inodes, it can't read the files that you are trying to copy. The sectors are there and TI could restore them when doing a partition restore, but it can't decode the files.
-{ Quote: "...it seems this DVD drive is truly down and out, and TI offered what I see as my only hope here. Your other suggestions all require the ability to boot or read CDs, which seems to be a thing of the past. The drive is not replaceable, and there is no compatible alternative." }-Does your laptop boot from USB devices? You could put a Live Linux distro on a bootable USB flash drive, or you could put it on a bootable USB hard disk and boot it from Grub4DOS. Or, could you borrow an external USB optical drive?

Probably the best solution would be if Acronis adds support for ext3 with 256-byte inodes to their products. I'm not sure why many Linux distributions are switching their default format, but it probably has something to do with the proliferation of huge hard disks and the need to deal with a gazillion files on the disk.

[Earthling]

Yes, I was copying while running the installed version, as unable to boot to CD. Didn't have any choice and had to hope that Dolphin could do what TI and Ghost can do and copy from a live system.

The only boot options this machine has are CD, HD, and LAN. Never looked at LAN, might it help here?

I suppose I should replace the laptop, but as its main function is remotely controlling the main PC when I'm somewhere else, and as it can do that just fine, and as it cost me a bomb I'm a bit reluctant. Installing Mandriva was just a diversion, though I must admit I'm quite impressed by it, and enjoying discovering Linux.

Thnx for all the help Mark.

[K0LO]

-{ Quote: "Yes, I was copying while running the installed version, as unable to boot to CD. Didn't have any choice and had to hope that Dolphin could do what TI and Ghost can do and copy from a live system." }-That makes sense. The file system probably locked the file and wouldn't allow access.

-{ Quote: "The only boot options this machine has are CD, HD, and LAN. Never looked at LAN, might it help here?" }-I didn't realize that. Since you mentioned restoring with TI, I just assumed that you had a way to boot to the TI recovery environment; it didn't occur to me that you were doing all of this from the Windows version of TI. Doesn't that mean that if you need to restore your Windows partition some day then you may have a problem getting the Acronis recovery disk booted? If replacing the CD drive is out of the question then you might consider getting one of those adapter cables that lets you connect a laptop hard disk to a USB input. You could then connect the disk to your desktop machine and have a go at restoring the disk, should it prove necessary.

-{ Quote: "...Installing Mandriva was just a diversion, though I must admit I'm quite impressed by it, and enjoying discovering Linux.

Thnx for all the help Mark." }-You're quite welcome. Yes, learning Linux is highly recommended. You will discover many tools that will let you do almost anything to your Windows machine after you figure them out.

[Earthling]

It isn't quite like that. I've got a VistaPE partition with TI and DD that I use to manage, backup and restore both Windows and Linux, and just now and again I can get the DVD drive to boot or read. Depends on the disk mostly, but even on a 'good' disk it often won't play ball.

[Earthling]

-{ Quote: ".....The latest build of Grub4DOS (http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/grub4dos-0.4.4-2008-11-19.zip) can find a file on an Ext3 partition I created with Ubuntu 8.10..........." }-
Paul or Mark:

I want to try this but can't fathom how to install it as there is no grubinst executable.

Bernard

[K0LO]

Bernard:

You should be able to just replace the file grldr on your disk with the newer version from the zip file.

Also, have you seen this post (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1371302&postcount=6) from Acronis Support? This should solve your issue with using TI to back up your Mandriva partitions.

[Earthling]

Mark:

Sounds simple enough, thanks :)

Good news about DD, but it's a bit much if they aren't intending a new build for TI 11. That's forcing users of earlier versions to upgrade.

Bernard