I've not done this lately, but in the past I have downloaded and run "live linux" installs from a CD. Typically, this will let one browse the local hard drives...
Now, depending on the distro, some will let you mount a USB drive and make it writable. (Some make this more difficult than is necessry, but again it's been a couple of years.) One writable, then one should be able to copy data from the local HD to the USB drive. In the past, I've also encountered a failed HD with several Gb data to recover. In that case, I mounted a second internal HD (this is before terrabyte USB hard drives became cheap), booted off the live CD, and was able to copy most of the data to newer HD. (For some reason, this failed drive could not be read when mounted as a second drive in an XP box. Linux read it with no problem - go figure!) -- richard "John Aldrich" <[email protected]> wrote on 06/29/2011 07:58:10 AM: > Umm.. you know, if you download the "live CD" image you just burn a > CD of it and boot off that and it does NOT install anything. Easier, > I think, than messing with a USB unless you a) just WANT to boot off > a USB memory stick or b) don't have a CD drive in the machine. :D > > > Thanks, > John Aldrich > IT Manager, > Blueridge Carpet > 706-276-2001, Ext. 2233 > > > > > > From: Jon Harris [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 10:53 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: Re: Ubuntu USB installer > > For some experimenting I figure to start with a nob install. RH is > more for the non-nob. Baby steps all the way! Thanks I will look > that up. I have to get something tonight as I have a couple of > drives that are acting flacky and want to see if linux will allow me > to get to the data. Not a big deal but would like to get it back if > I can. The PC was a retired game/archive machine that had a first > gen PIII in it with a cheapy EIDE promise card. No RAID to worry > about just needed to get more drives functional than the MB would > have allowed. It was also a Tri-boot of 98SE/Win2000/WinXP. > > Thanks for the assistance. > > Jon > On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 10:29 PM, Joseph L. Casale > <[email protected]> wrote: > I always unetbootin, but same sh~t? > Just don?t select the wrong drive. > > Just my 2cents, Ubuntu sucks, its debian based? Viva la redhat? > > From: Jon Harris [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 7:29 PM > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: Ubuntu USB installer > > I am looking to try out Ubuntu and have pulled it down. On the > download site it told me I had to put a USB installer from this site. > http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/. > Has any one used the Universal USB Installer to get the ISO to run. > I am not wanting to burn my Win 7 machine. I am also getting > security warnings that this might damage the system. > > While I wait for an answer on this question I will go back to > looking to see if I can find a different way to do this testing I want to do. > > Thanks for any assistance, > > Jon > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software. > com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software. > com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software. > com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software. > com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
