From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Wed, 4/23/2025 9:38 AM, Paul wrote:   
   > On Tue, 4/22/2025 4:40 PM, bad sector wrote:   
   >> On 4/12/25 20:40, Paul wrote:   
   >>> On Sat, 4/12/2025 7:50 PM, bad sector wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Recovering data from my suddenly departed son's computer was a job and a   
   half, but it's mostly done. He had a huge server tower and I think he was   
   amusing himself with RAID (which he didn't need) and encryption (which he   
   didn't need) and so on!   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Drives:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> #1   
   >>>> 500gb ssd with strange partitions for Linux and I think some created for   
   future Linux OSes, could't figure out his /home partition setup, possibly raid.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> #2   
   >>>> 1tb ssd hosting fat and ext4 data PLUS a w7 and a w10 partition   
   >>>>   
   >>>> #3   
   >>>> 4tb data   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> #4,5,6 in a Linux-Raid array, all data   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I copied out the #4 data set, cleared those drives, and released the   
   tower to the executors for liquidation. Then I also backed up what ever other   
   data I could find to other drives on hand.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Plugged the # 1,2,3 drives into my own very similar computer; couldn't   
   believe it when everything just booted right up, even the two window installs!   
   This gave me the idea that I can relax and take my time doing the rest of the   
   recovey, filtering    
   and disposal as time permits because I can now just boot my son's systems on   
   my own computer. But it's my OLD computer.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> _____And that's how shit hit the fan   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I'm moving to a new and inevitably UEFI box, just plugging those 3 drives   
   in doesn't work any more, so...   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I copied the #1 drive to a 1tb ssd to have more space, then did a fresh   
   Linux (Tumbleweed) install to get EFI bootabilty. With that new #1 drive and   
   his other drives including the #2 with windows on it also plugged-in I ran   
   Yast to set up the EFI    
   boot. I can now boot either my temporary facilitating Linux install OR my   
   son's Linux (Leap-15.4) on the new EFI-BIOS board.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> But I cannot boot his windows, for that I'd have to keep my old   
   Legacy-BIOS box which I don't want to do (I can unload it for a few hundered   
   bills).   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Not knowing windows much I think I could do a w7 and a w10 fresh install   
   after having done two 'windows backups' on the legacy box and then try a   
   recovery from those windows-backup files on the new w7 and w10 installs on the   
   EFI box. There's GOTTA    
   be a simpler way   ..I hope.   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> With my Macrium CD, I can boot from the CD and back up any machine.   
   >>>   
   >>> You would not use the "Windows 7 Backup" that comes with Windows, because   
   >>> of the rough edges. Commercial backup materials have the rough edges filed   
   off.   
   >>>   
   >>> *******   
   >>>   
   >>> Similar to your Tumbleweed facilitator install, you can install a Windows   
   side-by-side   
   >>> in a sense. Use Macrium to clone over or backup-restore over, the partition   
   >>> from the other box. Then do a Macrium CD boot repair, and the boot repair   
   (similar to   
   >>> OSprober), it sees the orphan Windows partitions you added, and includes   
   >>> them in the boot menu.   
   >>>   
   >>> Similar to third-party "EasyBCD" on Windows, you can use this command   
   >>>   
   >>>     bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:   
   >>>   
   >>> to add an item to the boot menu (stored in the BCD file, BCD file   
   >>> format is actually a registry file).   
   >>>   
   >>> But, there is "much to and fro" involved. For example, somewhere along the   
   >>> way, you will be holding an MSDOS Primary partition in your hand,   
   >>> some other disk is GPT with GUID partition type declarations.   
   >>>   
   >>> What commercial tools will agree to bodge those items together   
   >>> to make a whole part ?   
   >>>   
   >>> It's going to take trickery at some point.   
   >>>   
   >>> Perhaps you make a "shell" of a partition (exact sizing important)   
   >>> on the GPT disk, then "dd" copy the MSDOS partition into the   
   >>> space set aside for the GPT partition. I have no idea whether   
   >>> that works. I can tell you, that the equivalent of an rsync   
   >>> between Windows C: type partitions, would never work, due to   
   >>> all the fiddly details involved in such things. Microsoft have   
   >>> gone out of their way, to ensure you can't Robocopy the entire   
   >>> C: drive into another partition. I *used* to do that in WinXP era,   
   >>> but those were simpler times and the file systems were a bit more   
   >>> bend-able back then.   
   >>>   
   >>> Windows has an MBR2GPT.exe utility, written by some hapless developer.   
   >>> Any program carrying out composite file system operations (partition,   
   >>> merge, shrink, done) is basically doomed to fail and fall on its face.   
   >>> Developers normally stick to "primitive" "one step" commands, for safety.   
   >>> Yet, somebody wrote that code... and it has enough smarts to reject   
   >>> disk configurations it does not like. Leaving only one configuration   
   >>> it does like. I think you can see coercing such a utility to do more   
   >>> than it intended to do, is a tall ask. It will not accept any old   
   >>> arbitrary configuration, and convert it.   
   >>>   
   >>> So yes, your mission looks like, technically do-able, but just about   
   >>> all the tools will tell you "I don't like broccoli", "I will sit   
   >>> here in this corner with this cold broccoli until hell freezes over",   
   >>> and so on :-) You've seen this before somewhere.   
   >>>   
   >>> MBR2GTP.exe can help you cross that river, but it won't allow   
   >>> you to carry a duck and a potato in the boat with you (a reference   
   >>> to this problem, where the problem was modified for an AI to solve).   
   >>> How the problem can involve a duck and a potato, I will never know.   
   >>>   
   >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf,_goat_and_cabbage_problem   
   >>>   
   >>> Summary: Do-able, but mostly a bar bet, like a steam powered rocket launch   
   :-)   
   >>>   
   >>>     Paul   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> So far it's been one huge exercise in futility beginning with my own   
   impatiance. I had gone to great lengths to recover what bare data I could onto   
   even duplicate data disks, I even made duplicates of the 3 ssd's that   
   continued to perform *flawlessly*    
   on my own older Crosshair legacy board. BEFORE I first tried the windows DOS   
   disk I should have seen the red flag 'WHY did my son keep that one disk DOS   
   when ALL the othes were GPT'?  But in my haste I didn't. I should also have   
   dd'd mirror image FILES    
   of the win-10 partition!   
   >>   
      
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