markh1289@yahoo.com wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I did a dumb thnig (no, a VERY dumb thing).
> I'd just like to confirm it was an irreversably stupid thing, but if
> there's any way of me recovery I'd love to hear it.
>
> I booted Knoppix (in the form of Auditor Security Collection) from CD
> in IBM T43.
> Then,
> mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sda1
>
> thinking this was a USB flash drive.
> I mounted it as type vfat, created a directory & wrote a small text
> file to it all off which worked.
>
> Turns out /dev/sda1 is WinXP partition of the HD, hence when CD is
> removed & laptop booted, C: is no longer bootable.
>
> The C: drive has 2 partitions, /dev/sd1 mentioned above & /dev/sda2
> which I think is where the IBM Recovery data is for getting laptop
> back to factory default.

Since Knoppix defaults to Read-Only, I'm more than a bit surprised.
Thinkpads are normally configured to NTFS. But if you didn't get an
error when you tried to convert the file system to FAT32 (to which
Linux can write), then you hosed your system. There is no going back.

If the data was crucial, stop using the computer *immediately*. Contact
a professional data recovery firm - I like DriveSavers
(www.drivesavers.com) - but there are others. Their services are not
inexpensive, but only you can determine the worth of your data.

Naturally, you will want to spend some time 1) learning about using
Linux if you want to use it again; 2) use imaging software before you
want to play; 3) back up, back up, back up.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User