Backing up data with a dead laptop, external hd, new laptop, and knoppix

[karling07]

Hey all - I have both knoppix livecd and ubuntu livecd so you can tell me which would be best for the following procedure.

The computer is botched, it kind of boots but not really and only kind of gets into the initial XP setup (the GUI one) where it sets time zones and stuff, and then always fails with big BSODs

So my plan is to boot knoppix into that laptop, access the C drive, copy all of the files over onto the external hard drive, and then ditch the shit laptop (or just format it) and then copy all files back.

My question is, is linux gonna be a bitch to me about mounting and everything? I dont need to be able to change files or anything, just copy them (from the C drive). So will it automatically mount the drive for me?

And secondly, will it be a bitch about my external hard drive? Pretty generic, formatted with FAT (or maybe NTFS cant remember). Because that one i DO need to copy files onto.

Thanks

 

[Shadowmoose]

I've done this exact same thing with an Ubuntu live cd. Everything should be detected automatically and you shouldn't need to mount anything. The live CD will even see the external hard drive.

At least that's how it goes when I do it.