Can I access my Windows files in Puppy? (Yes!)

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RedPlanet
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Can I access my Windows files in Puppy? (Yes!)

#1 Post by RedPlanet »

I recently started using Puppy Linux and was wondering if there was any way to access my files that I had used with Windows XP Pro.

Thanks!

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Flash
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#2 Post by Flash »

Assuming they aren't some weird Microsoft-proprietary format, you can mount the Windows partition and open your files in Puppy (read-only). How best to do that depends on which version of Puppy you are using.

Rich
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#3 Post by Rich »

On my system here ( running liveCD with pup001 file on hard drive. ) the windows install can be found in /mnt/home.
>> Puppy 1.0.4 Moz - LiveCD <<

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rarsa
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#4 Post by rarsa »

You don't say if the files are on the same computer? mor on a ZIP disk or on another computer.

You also don't say if you are referring to accessing the files or accessing the data inside the files. (not the same)

So, before venturing into answering:

Where are the files you want to access?

What kind of files you are talking to? Programs? Pictures? Word documents? CAD files?

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Ian
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#5 Post by Ian »

What Rasa says is a very valid and important point, I think there is a need here for a Sticky pointing out this to people posting queries.

Flash, I wonder if we had a sticky at the very start saying something like:

IMPORTANT !! BEFORE POSTING READ THIS

or

IMPORTANT !! READ THIS FIRST BEFORE POSTING

in bold red text would be good.

and go on to explain that to enable people to help with a a problem providing all the details of their machine and any steps that they took leading up to the problem would be greatly appreciated and also could they edit their post to add Solved to the heading or at least reply in the post saying that their problem has been resolved if and when they find a solution.

What do you think.

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Flash
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#6 Post by Flash »

I think you'd be wasting your valuable time. :lol: But posts along those lines have appeared several times in this forum and maybe they have helped more than we realize. After all, how would we know? I guess we could compare the questions we get to the questions the Knoppix forum gets, to see which one is higher class . :wink:

Perhaps you're expecting too much of beginners like RedPlanet. After all, he does say he just started using Linux. As I recall, I was pretty bewildered when I started using Linux. :? Still am, come to think of it.

It's not helpful to say RTFM because often the FM is scattered in bits and pieces all over the net and it's like an Easter Egg hunt to find something that looks like it might be useful. Then much of what you find is undated and turns out to be so old it's useless if not downright misleading. :cry:

Is the red "First" in the Beginners sticky index about what you had in mind?

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Ian
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#7 Post by Ian »

Something like:

Welcome to the Puppy Forum Beginners Help, before you post a question here have you tried doing a search of the forum or the Puppy Wiki (URL here) if you cannot find a solution and are posting here try to ensure that you have the following information available.

The make of your machine.
The amount of RAM (memory) installed.
The CPU (processor) speed.
What Hard Drives, CDROMs and DVDs that are installed.
The Partitions, size and type, on any hard drives.
What type of Keyboard & Mouse i.e. Serial, PS/2, USB or other.
Which version of Puppy you are working with.

Also could you describe the problem and any steps you have taken so far.

If you have trouble gathering this information see if you can get a friend to help otherwise include as much information as you can.

These steps are designed to help the people who contribute to this forum help you find a solution to your problem if it is possible, by including as much information as possible it reduces the amount of time that would be taken up by them requesting this data and you replying.

When and if your problem is resolved we would appreciate it if you could edit your original post and add Solved to the heading or at least add a post saying that the problem is fixed.

Thank you for reading this and we hope your problem can be resolved quickly.

Enjoy the Puppy experience.

How does that sound.

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Flash
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#8 Post by Flash »

What about putting a link to your questionnaire in Lobster's sticky post? There we can quickly find it again when we need to copy and paste it into a reply. :lol:

Sage
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#9 Post by Sage »

Some other successful fora collect and collate areas of frequent concern or special interest into GUIDES, available alongside the headings. These are a bit more discursive than a FAQ list and are usually written by gurus and moderators who have most experience of real world concerns, especially to neophytes, in specific aspects of the technology. Topics of such merit can be discerned from a long term analysis of contributions across all fora. Puppy has probably now reached sufficient maturity that this would be a worthwhile exercise that could further promote the breed?
Last edited by Sage on Wed 16 Nov 2005, 11:07, edited 1 time in total.

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Ian
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#10 Post by Ian »

I'll see if I can do that Flash but at the moment I am still reeling from reading Sage's scintilating reply.

WOW!!
:-)

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Ian
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#11 Post by Ian »

Done, I've actually put the body of my post in there as well as a link to the whole thread.

Sage
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#12 Post by Sage »

Nice to scintillate when one gets up in the morning. I do mine with two "l's", though!

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Flash
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#13 Post by Flash »

Sage wrote:Some other successful fora collect and collate areas of frequent concern or special interest into GUIDES, available alongside the headings. These are a bit more discursive than a FAQ list and are usually written by gurus and moderators who have most experience of real world concerns, especially to neophytes
I can't really comment since you did not include links to any forums you consider to be "successful," but please write all the guides, how-tos and tutorials you want. We'll find a place for them. Have you considered contributing to the Wiki? It seems to be the consensus view of the Puppy community that the Wiki is for long articles and this forum is more for topical discussions about specific problems.
...Topics of such merit can be discerned from a long term analysis of contributions across all fora.
Fine. We'll have a volunteer get right on it :) as soon as you give us a comprehensive list of links to websites and forums you think are good examples.

RedPlanet
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Re: Can I access my Windows files in Puppy?

#14 Post by RedPlanet »

I did try and look through the stickies, but wasn't sure if they had the information that I was looking for, so I thought I might post a new topic.

Here's the deal with my computer- it's an IBM Thinkpad that is running Windows XP Pro. Right now, my comptuer cannot boot Windows (which happened after defragging it). Someone suggested finding a small version of Linux to use to boot my computer, so that I can transfer my files and then be able to reformat my computer.

So the computer that I am running Linux off of, is the same one with the computer files (such as jpg/gif picture files, music files, powerpoint and word files).

I hope that helps...

[edit] I forgot to mention that the version of puppy that I'm using is puppy-1.0.5-mozilla.iso

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Pizzasgood
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#15 Post by Pizzasgood »

Now we're getting somewhere. :) To access drives in linux (any drives, whether hard, floppy, or cd) they must be mounted. Mounting is basically sticking them in the filesystem somewhere. In windows, that's usually at C:\. In linux, it's usually in the directory /mnt/.

So, on to mounting the drives. Puppy normally creates a file to store personal files, and while it's at it, it needs to mount the drive as /mnt/home. However, as you are using WindowsXP, the harddrive is probably an ntfs partition. Puppy can't create files in this type of partition (to my knowledge, I use fat32 so I don't pay much attention to the current state of things with ntfs). So, I believe, you have to download a pupfile from windows to do this. If you did, then that partition of that harddrive will be in /mnt/home.

If you don't have a pupfile (it would possibly be at C:\pup001), then you will have to mount the drive on your own. This can be done several ways. The easiest is to click the icon that says "drives" on the desktop. Then when it loads up (may take a bit) click the word "mount" after the partitions you want to mount (probably just "hda1" unless you have others). Then it should mount it for you and pop up a window with it. Remember to click "unmount" when you are done.

If that doesn't work, try Pmount (under "utilities" in the menu). It works similarily to the other one.

The last option is to do it from the commandline. You'll have to know the name of the partition you want to mount. hda1 is the first harddrive (a) and the first partition (1). The third partition on the second harddrive would be hdb3. Get it? hd, plus the letter for drive, plus the number for partition.

Code: Select all

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows2
You may have to give the filesystem type as a parameter.

Code: Select all

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows2 -t ntfs
or

Code: Select all

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/windows2 -t vfat
for example.

Good luck!
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Ian
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#16 Post by Ian »

Sage, I'm trying to save space by abbreviating words.
:-)

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#17 Post by Sage »

OK! As for other fora, I had in mind the excellent Guides produced by OCW. PCChipsLottery has something similar, but there are others, many others. Wikis are fine but it's better to place specific guides alonside the sites that are used by correspondents. As for Guide writers, I'd happily volunteer, but have zero knowledge in Linux - which should be obvious! If you need an editor, I'll help (forty years professional experience!).
Saving space? There's an huge gap in the panel under some textual contributions which could be removed by a small html rewrite?

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Flash
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#18 Post by Flash »

Sage wrote:OK! As for other fora, I had in mind the excellent Guides produced by OCW. PCChipsLottery has something similar, but there are others, many others.
Names! We need names! Who, or what, is OCW? And URLs! If you know the URLs to these sites, why not put them in your post? The few seconds it would take you might save the rest of us aggregate man-hours of Googling for them. :)
Wikis are fine but it's better to place specific guides alonside the sites that are used by correspondents.
Again, a picture, or in this case a URL, is worth a thousand words.
As for Guide writers, I'd happily volunteer, but have zero knowledge in Linux - which should be obvious! If you need an editor, I'll help (forty years professional experience!).
Stick around.
Saving space? There's an huge gap in the panel under some textual contributions which could be removed by a small html rewrite?
I have no idea what you mean. Could you give a URL to a specific example?

RedPlanet
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#19 Post by RedPlanet »

Thanks so much for the help Pizzasgood. I'll definitely try it this weekend (and let you know if I could get it to work or not).

RedPlanet
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#20 Post by RedPlanet »

Thanks very much for the help, Pizzasgood. It worked and I was able to transfer my files to an external hard drive. Thanks again!

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