Tag Archives: external hard drive

How do I install XBMC as an OS without formatting my hard drive?

Posted on August 1, 2010 by admin| 1 Comment

I’ve got a laptop (Compaq Presario R3000) that has no battery. It worked decently enough when plugged in, but recently, it’s internal hard drive failed. I’ve removed the faulty drive (which had Windows XP installed on it) and plugged in my external hard drive. Looking to use this frankenstein laptop as a media center, and so I’d like to install XBMC onto it as an operating system. I’ve downloaded and burned a disc for XBMC 9.11 (most recent XBMC live cd) but I do not want the install to erase the files on the external drive (namely, the dozens of gigs of media files that I want XBMC to eventually play). I can’t back up the files since my only other storage option is my working laptop, which only has 5 gigs free. So how can I ensure that the installation does not format my external drive? Does XBMC format the drive it gets installed on (as an OS)? Thanks for any help.

PS, If I have to install Ubuntu, or some other Linux version, to get XBMC working, I will, but the same problem applies. Save my files! Thanks!

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recover gpt protective partition?

Posted on August 1, 2010 by admin| 1 Comment

I added an ntfs partition to my external hard drive from a puplinux live cd, and then I added some files to the original partition (which i have been using for months) on my mac system, and now windows xp doesn’t display the drive in control panel, and in the drive management menu it identifies the drive as entirely a GPT protective partition. I can still use the drive normally in os x and linux. I tried deleting the new partition, which didn’t seem to help.

Is there anyway I can get my drive to work in xp again without data loss?

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Cannot view external hard drive in Windows Explorer?

Posted on August 1, 2010 by admin| 5 Comments

A little background: I formatted this drive with Linux (Ubuntu) to FAT32. I decided to get rid of Linux and now I’m on Windows.

In Windows, I cannot access this hard drive through Windows Explorer, although I can see it in Disk Management. I can still access the disk if I boot a live cd. I can see there is a “Linux Swap” partition.

I’m a little lost on what to do, I can still retrieve my files, but not from Windows. :(

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Data Recovery Programs? Suggestions?

Posted on July 13, 2010 by admin| 1 Comment

I’ve had my laptop since Christmas, and I recently kicked smelly vista into the trash and put windows 7 beta on. [Don't even think about saying that that's my problem, because it is much more stable than vista!!] So anyway, recently my computer wouldn’t boot after left unplugged and had the battery die, and I used an Ubuntu Live CD to try to copy my data out, but It was unable to mount the drive and said something about ntfs inconsistencies, corruption, or hardware failure [please! no! I'd rather data loss!] So, I’ve removed my drive from my laptop and will connect it to an external hard drive assembly to run chkdsk under linux’s reccomendation, and if that doesn’t help, I need some suggestions for data recovery software. Thanks in advance!

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Help with installing Ubuntu 8.10 on an Intel Mac Mini?

Posted on July 6, 2010 by admin| 1 Comment

Ok, this is going to sound as weird as heck. So I had my Mac Mini running Leopard, and I decided to install Ubuntu 8.10 on my external hard drive (500 GB). So I burned the CD, booted into it,selected the installer, selected my external hard drive to install Ubnuntu on, which was SBC or somthing like that. So I went on and right before the instlaller started, I made sure all my settings were correct. It said it would format my external hard drive, so I hit Continue. After the installer was done, I rebooted. I held down Alt (Option) and all that was on the list was my Live CD. So I got all freaked out and restarted without holding down Alt or C. No Apple, and so I just waited. And big whoop-de-do, no Mac OS X or Linux! So I’m like HOLY SHIT and so I restarted, and the same file with the question mark appeared again. So I booted into the live CD, and all day I have tried to install Ubuntu onto my external and also tried my internal. No luck. So I was wondering if somebody could help me with installing Ubuntu until I buy another Leopard CD. And please, no wise cracks like Drop you computer off a balcony or somthing. And no, I can’t call a technition. So, I’m trying to install Ubuntu 8.10 on an Intel Based Mac Mini, with only the Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD (desktop edition). And if you are wondering, yes, I am running the live CD right now.
And also now my external hard drive had 3 partitions, and I was also wondering if there was a way to get rid of them.

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