[Ms Bookit]

I own a business and used software that is stored on a hard drive. The computer either has a bad power supply or video card or has crashed. The company I purchased it from will send me a new server but more than I want to spend. I now have new software but need to retrieve the data on the hard drive . The OS is Linux or a LinuxBox???, I thought I could just remove the hard drive from the server and install it into another computer but that didn't work. I kept getting the error message " Missing Operating System."

I download several versions of Linux and Linux Live CD but they won't install. I am still getting the error message " Missing Operating System."

I have set the Boot sequence to read the CD Rom first, but it still doesn't recognize.

I really need to have access to the information stored on the hard drive.

Is there a way to copy from a hard drive taken from one computer with Linux and store the information on a CD?

[CouchMaster]

Sounds like you burned the Linux ISO's wrong. They must be burned as an 'image' instead of 'data' - big difference! Here's how http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/LQ_ISO
Doing this should be easy, and it should work perfectly provided the HD is in good condition.
The "Missing Operating System" doesn't sound good. I switch HD's in computers all of the time and they almost always boot to some extent - I've never had that error message before!
Good luck...

[Ms Bookit]

Originally Posted by CouchMaster

Sounds like you burned the Linux ISO's wrong. They must be burned as an 'image' instead of 'data' - big difference! Here's how http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/LQ_ISO
Doing this should be easy, and it should work perfectly provided the HD is in good condition.
The "Missing Operating System" doesn't sound good. I switch HD's in computers all of the time and they almost always boot to some extent - I've never had that error message before!
Good luck...

Well I found out today that the motherboard is gone on the original server and the Linux software was installed on the chip(??) and definetely not the hard drive. Now I understand why my software vendor insisted I buy another server from them, they don't install the software on the hard drive! ... maybe that's why the message is saying "Missing OS."

Is there a work around to still access the information on the hard drive?

[monckywrench]

"Is there a work around to still access the information on the hard drive?"

Plug the hard drive into another computer, boot a Knoppix CD, and rescue:

http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

[CouchMaster]

Embedded Linux -- cool! You only have data on the HD then. You should be able to put your HD into any Linux computer as a slave drive and read the data that way; or hook it up in another computer as master and run any Linux live CD --- which should mount and make the HD readable.
If you already have two Linux live CD's laying around you can try them, just make sure they were burned properly.

[bearqst]

You could or should be able to remove the HD from the current system and attached it to another system, either Windows, MAC or Linux and access the files. I'd suggest you use a another Linux box if you have one.

I run an embedded Linux system, the MB crashed and I just moved the storage HD to another system and retrieved what I needed.

Make sure you set the HD pins to Slave mode, then it'll show as say Drive D on the system