Topic: Read files from windows

[Bluephoton]

Can I pull the drives from my SME 7.3 server and put them in a windows box and read them with something like this "Ext2 File System Driver for Windows":

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/

Has anyone tried this before?  I am assuming in raid 1 each drive will be a full copy of the files I saved on the server.

I am thinking of trying this as I can't access the server (see post http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,45788.0.html) and I am desperate to recover my files.

[Bluephoton]

I tried a couple of these programs and they will not read the raided drives individually.

[CharlieBrady]

Can I pull the drives from my SME 7.3 server and put them in a windows box and read them with something like this "Ext2 File System Driver for Windows":

No.

[Stefano]

No.

this is the short answer..

now the long one..
no, you can't because on a typical SME setup you have:
- the first layer: partitions on hd, type fd (linux raid autodetect)
- the second layer: linux sw raid
- the third layer: lvm volume
- the last layer: the ext3 fs

do you (Bluephoton) really expect that any windows sw could read this?
strange enough, there are cases where windows is not able to read its own f.s.

[mmccarn]

This wiki article includes some notes on accessing a SME lvm partition from Ubuntu: http://wiki.contribs.org/Recovering_SME_Server_with_lvm_drives

If the SME hard disk works well enough to attempt access from Windows (that is, if you're just trying to get data, and not trying to do data recover on a damaged hdd), you may be able to access the drive by booting a SME install disk in "rescue mode": http://wiki.contribs.org/Booting#Rescue_Mode_Help

From your other post, if you "just" want to get the files off of the SME:
I have *absolutely no trouble* accessing my SME 7.x server from a Windows 7 Home Ultimate workstation using WinSCP (the data transfer may be slow, but you will have no trouble getting everything, and there is no reliance on any windows networking component).

I am also confident that I could mount a share on the windows box *from* the SME server using these instructions: http://wiki.contribs.org/Mount_Network_Shares

Or, connect a USB disk to your SME and copy the files from the SME hd to the USB disk, then move the USB disk to a Windows box: http://wiki.contribs.org/USBDisks

My understanding of the windows 7 login problem is that it is related to *domain* logins, not workgroup logins (but admittedly I haven't read the various bugs or posts in detail).

FTP should allow you access to your samba shares without using any windows networking.

Webdav may allow you to get to your samba files without using windows networking (but it's trickier to set up).

[Bluephoton]

Thank you very much mmccarn I am going to read this info and try all of these suggestions.  Sometimes you just need a little help, a little direction at where to begin to approach the problem.

Thanks again

Paul

[Bluephoton]

I have *absolutely no trouble* accessing my SME 7.x server from a Windows 7 Home Ultimate workstation using WinSCP (the data transfer may be slow, but you will have no trouble getting everything, and there is no reliance on any windows networking component).


Since this did not involve altering the server I thought it would be ok to give this a try.  I followed the instructions carefully.

It would not connect and gave the error "Connection refused".

[CharlieBrady]

I have *absolutely no trouble* accessing my SME 7.x server from a Windows 7 Home Ultimate workstation using WinSCP (the data transfer may be slow, but you will have no trouble getting everything, and there is no reliance on any windows networking component).


Since this did not involve altering the server I thought it would be ok to give this a try.  I followed the instructions carefully.

It would not connect and gave the error "Connection refused".

You need to enable SSH via the server manager before you can access it via WinSCP.

[Bluephoton]

I enabled SSH in server manager and got the same error "Connection Refused"

I am thinking at this point my best option is to use another linux box (Ubuntu) to format a USB drive and manually copy critical files to the usb drive and then restore to a windows machine.

If I had a usb drive formatted ext2/ext3 and plugged it into the server could anybody walk me trough the commands to find and transfer my files?

Thanks

Paul

[janet]

Bluephoton

Just sit at the server with a connected keyboard and monitor and log in as root.
Temporarily connect them if necessary.
You should be able to do everything you need to do at the command prompt.

Stay on track, you still seem to be scattering your energies in too many different directions trying to "get your files" by different means. Focus on one. Answer the questions posed in the other thread, and follow up there.
Stop creating new threads essentially trying to resolve the same problem different ways.
You are distracting yourself.

[Bluephoton]

Ok will do.

I saw it as more of a 2 track approach - trying to fix the server but also trying to recover the files in case of the worst.

I understand what you are saying I just have a fear I am going to destroy my files trying to fix it.