Ubuntu

GRUB Legacy version 0.95

Asked by jess

I pulled a hard drive out of my late grandmothers old computer. The computer was not functional so I added the drive as a slave to one of my PC's. I booted the computer from the slave and to my surprise it started with UBUNTU. This particular computer had on it at one point Windows '98 (thats how old this is)

when I press escape to load options I get:

GNU GRUB Version 0.95 (638k lower / 916416k upper memory)

Ubuntu, Kernel 2.6.10-5-386

Well after fixing the noapic issue I come across /sbin/init: 428: cannot open dev/console: No such file
After reading some I found I could try specifying the exact partition to boot to but I have absolutely no idea what partition that should be.

Basically all I wanted to do was see if any of the old files (pictures and things) were still saved on this hard drive. I have had no luck running LinuxMint

But it seems that without being able to physically get into this version of ubuntu I can't edit or see anything.

Is there any hope of recovering these files? Or should I consider them lost?
Also I am really not well versed in Ubuntu or Linux, all I know is from the research I have done for this problem.

Thanks for any help at all.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

I suggest you boot to live CD and chroot to the installed OS. You can then reinstate Grub to the MBR.
Omgubuntu has a guide called " sticking it to Grub " This will help you achieve this.
You may also want to check the UUIDs of the partitions hasn't changed. Running:

sudo blkid

Will show the IDs and you can read the fstab file on the installed OS from the same LiveCD. If you are simply wanting the casual user data from the OS you could copy it to USB in t live CD desktop then wipe the drive and do a clean install of Trusty. You can then reinstate the data from the backup

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jess (thatonenerdychick) said : 		#2

Okay so the first thing is to create a live CD (can I use a live USB?)

Any installation discs for this program has not been found in her stuff so I'm still not sure how it got there in the first place.

I keep finding omgubuntu "sticking it to Grub2" will this do the same thing or do I need to find one for Grub?

How do I run sudo blkid? The only commands I have available is editing

Ubuntu, Kernel 2.6.10-5-386
Ubuntu, Kernel 2.6.10-5-386(recovery)
memtest

So I assume get to this page highlight Ubuntu, Kernel 2.6.10-5-386 and press e, but how do I get to a command prompt to use sudo blkid?

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jess (thatonenerdychick) said : 		#3

I need confirmation.

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Manfred Hampl (m-hampl) said : 		#4

I see two possibilities:

1. You succeed in getting the old system to boot:
The selection screen that you see (grub / Ubuntu, kernel / Ubuntu kernel recovery / memtest) is the grub selection screen. If you choose the first option the system should boot into a graphical desktop, and might ask to select a username from the login screen and request the password. But I understand that this does not work but aborts with cannot open dev/console or similar error messages. In any case - Do you think you know username and password of your grandmother?

There are possibilities to select "Ubuntu kernel (recovery)" and try getting a root command prompt, but that requires certain knowledge about Ubuntu terminal commands. I suggest not using that option for the time being, but better use the following:

2. Use an installation medium to start a live system:
You can boot an Ubuntu live system either from a DVD (or eventually an oversized CD), or a USB stick.
Visit http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop to download the Ubuntu 14.04 installation kit (in .iso format) and create a bootable DVD or bootable USB stick based on the instructions on the lower part of that page (How to burn a DVD / create a bootable stick on Ubuntu / Windows / OSX)
When you have achieved that, you should restart your PC and instruct it to boot from that DVD or USB device, and you should use the "Try Ubuntu without installing" mode. In that mode you should have a working Ubuntu system running with the possibility to access the old hard disk and to inspect it for any files that might be worth being kept.

If you need any further help in that process, please do not hesitate to ask.

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