Problem with Read/Write Options in v6.2

[HelpPleas]

I've been using Knoppix v5 for some time now. It provided 3 options for mounting a partition:

Not Mounted (the default). This is best when a drive is damaged and you just want to clone it quickly before it dies.

Mounted Read-Only (click on Desktop icon) Best for NTFS partitions, as it's not safe for Knoppix to write to them.

Mounted Read-Write (click on Home icon on Taskbar > Go > Storage Media). When you need to write to a partition.

I have not been able to find a way of giving myself this flexibility and control in v6.2 – I would very much welcome some help with this.

Alternatively, can anyone suggest a Live CD which does give me these options (and which is preferably not command-line only)?

[Leppie]

any Ubuntu based livecd will provide this functionality.
i cannot post the link where to get one, as i do not have a post count of 15 yet. but try at releases dot ubuntu dot com

[HelpPleas]

I've been looking into Ubuntu, but this thread on their forum really had me worried.

live cd writing to xp partition? (sorry, I can't post the link, but it's in General Help on ubuntuforums org)

Apparently Ubuntu might try to 'fix' an NTFS partition while booting up, without telling you or giving you a chance to stop it from happening.

[Leppie]

that thread is to put it lightly "extremely vague".
livecd's often use pre-existing linux swap partitions. if you do not want a drive to be touched, then make sure the livecd cannot touch it.

i've got the official ubuntu livecd (provided by canonical) and used it several times. i've never had issues like the one described in that thread. furthermore, other more experienced ubuntu users had never heard of an issue like. also, apparently the ntfs partition in question was fixed...

[HelpPleas]

that thread is to put it lightly "extremely vague".
also, apparently the ntfs partition in question was fixed...

Well, I'm wondering if I should do some investigation myself before starting to use Ubuntu.

Windows has the ChkDsk utilitiy which often fixes NTFS partitions, but sometimes completely trashes them and loses a lot of data. Before running anything like that, I would prefer to clone the hard drive (assuming the data is important).
If it turns out that the 'fixing' has already been done before you get a chance to do the cloning, that's not good!!

[Leppie]

Well, I'm wondering if I should do some investigation myself before starting to use Ubuntu.

Windows has the ChkDsk utilitiy which often fixes NTFS partitions, but sometimes completely trashes them and loses a lot of data. Before running anything like that, I would prefer to clone the hard drive (assuming the data is important).
If it turns out that the 'fixing' has already been done before you get a chance to do the cloning, that's not good!!

even when the partition table is gone, you can still access the data on a ntfs partition using testdisk (available through the ubuntu repositories).

[devils casper]

Testdisk works fine if you do minor changes after partition table corruption.

None of LiveCD write in Windows Partition or any other partition auto-magically. You have to give permissions and tell it write data in Hard Disk. Data is completely safe during LiveCD usage unless you do something wrong manually.

[HelpPleas]

Testdisk works fine if you do minor changes after partition table corruption.

None of LiveCD write in Windows Partition or any other partition auto-magically. You have to give permissions and tell it write data in Hard Disk. Data is completely safe during LiveCD usage unless you do something wrong manually.

It's been some time since I looked at Testdisk, but IIRC the recommendation is that you clone the drive first.

I think we are agreed on how LiveCDs are supposed to behave, that doesn't mean that if a particular CD is reported to behave differently, we can just dismiss that report.

[devils casper]

I think we are agreed on how LiveCDs are supposed to behave, that doesn't mean that if a particular CD is reported to behave differently, we can just dismiss that report.

Could you post any link of it? LiveCDs do not change anything in Hard disk automatically. Most of the time, Users have to set permissions first. A few LiveCDs set those permissions by default for rescue purpose but even in those cases, it do ask before making any change or editing any file.

[Leppie]

he's talking about this thread: [ubuntu] live cd writing to xp partition? - Ubuntu Forums