On Mon, 23 Jun 2008, Dave Lowe wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 4:35 PM, Richard Smoot <rsmoot@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> It's also handy to have a working XP to trouble shoot other PC's
>> because I forget how Windows does things.
>
> Either way, if there is no way to rescue the proprietary "rescue
> partition" and get the images off before you wipe and instal SUSE, all
> you **need** is the product key from the sticker on the laptop.
> Getting an XP install CD is the easy part.
All you _need_, sure. The restore partition has the advantage that it comes
with all the drivers. It has the _dis_advantage that it comes with all the
dealer-installed crap.
Boot up with an emergency CD. http://sysresccd.org has a good one. See if
you can see the rescue partition in fdisk.
If the rescue partition is there, take note of its flags. XP might depend
on them.
If there's no partition made for it but the there's room for such a
partition after /dev/[sh]da1, go ahead and create thne partition; it won't
damage what's there unless you write a filesystem on that space.
If there's no partition made and no room in which to make it, you need a new
partition table. Anyone know if it's safe to have fdisk create one?
You'll probably need several DVDs onto which to copy it. For insurance, you
might want to partition it (into DVD-size chunks?) and run par2 on the
chunks in case some of the disks fail.
-- "On two occasions I have been asked, -- 'Pray, Mr Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' ... I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." -- Charles Babbage, 1864. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
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