I have a laptop here with Win XP installed, and the person who owns it accidentally installed SP3 on the computer, and it just totally wreaked havoc. Before I re-install Windows, I need to recover the files from the computer, but when the computer will not go into safe mode, and the hard drive has a different connection than the standard 2.5" hard drive has, I cannot recover the data. Can I boot from a Ubuntu CD and recover the files from the live CD? Does Ubuntu read NTFS or FAT drives? If not, what can I boot from that will copy data from an NTFS hard drive? Thanks.

The laptop harddrive uses either an Iede or Sata connection. It is a special laptop 44 pin connector instead of the 40 pin as used in standard harddrives for IEDE connections. SATA only has the one type of connection. There are special adapters that can be used to convert one to the other and I recommend that you use one of those. You can use any live CD from linux to either repair files or transfer files...but there are special ways that have to be used to accomplish this. You might try the Ultimate Boot CD with the loaded recovery/repair tools and see if you can clear it up to boot as. (Google is your friend.) If you use the Ubamtu or Knoppix cd to recover the files you must have some place to send the recovered files to. This can be a problem if the laptop cannot boot to USB because XP overrides the USB during boot. so there is a possibility that the USB connections might not work for using an external drive for storage. Which puts you back to having to use the adapter. They are fairly cheap ($20 US). It is the disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats on the belief of personal change--- yet they remain disadvantaged.

Ubuntu/Knoppix (linux variants on a CD) usually allow access to an installed CD/DVD unit (burner etc...); and from my limited eeperience - usually an external device (HD, CD/DVDR); and likewise the Universal boot CD All of these have been suggested by "lurks..."... Posssibly, if the above don't resolve it for you..., and you're happy to remove the drive from the laptop, use a usb-to EIDE or SATA adapter. This will allow you to access the drive via any OS compatible with the file format(s) on it... And thus you can copy data off that way... I feel one of these (externally powered) adapters is a usefull item to have around these days...? Also have you considered/tried the Recovery Console option? With that might you not be able to get back to an earlier restore point. Or does SP3 do something to prevent that (as in delete all restore points; which I have a feeling is the case)? For the future... perhaps invest in Acronis or similar and create/store an image of the working system (when it is) on optical media. Keep it safe and if problems arise in the future.... restore the good image? And also regularly back up (as in straight copy...) all data regularly to external media? Safer than sorrier? It costs so little these day to acquire/use the above utils etc...; and can save so much grief, wailing, hair tearing, and gnashing of toofs...?

I was able to boot from the Linux Mint Live CD and recover the files to my 4GB flashdrive. I was pretty sure from the beginning that I did not need an adapter. Second, this is not my computer, it is a friends' computer, so I don't have any control over how or by what means they backup their computer. But as always, I stress the fact of how important backup up your computer is. I wish that I could post a picture of what the hard drive connector looked like, come to think of it, it may have been a SATA hdd, but my initial thought was that it was not a SATA hard drive because of the age of the laptop. Thanks.

Well dun as they say... Hopefully your friend will learn a little about the value of backup/copies etc...; if not about imaging too? The adapter approach is a real last-ditch approach if one cannot access the drive in its own housing... Linux Mint Live CD is presumably another variant of Linux on a CD???

Yes, Linux Mint is a branch of Ubuntu, and is, in my opinion, (as is with others) is somewhat better than Ubuntu with the added features that it packs in, such as Ndiswrapper. Thanks