Decided to try Ubuntu Linux 6.06 (which is pretty cool BTW) after struggling a bit with 5.05. Unfortunately when 6.06 installed from Live CD, it did not create a boot loader to allow me back to my WXP. I have tried several recovery schemes including booting from a W98 floppy, but none successful (NTFS partition may have been corrupted.)

I can see /media/windows in file system in my file browser either from Live CD or normal 6.06 boot from hdd, but when I click on the folder, it is blank (i.e., no files or folders).

When I run
"sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/hda1 /media/windows" from shell within normal bootup, I get:

"mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hda1,
missing codepage or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so"

If I click on 27.3GB Volume in "Computer" view from file browser, I get:

"Unable to mount the selected volume" and if I click on "show more details", it shows:

"error: device /dev/hada1 is not removeable
error: could not execute pmount"

I had backed up not long before the U install, but now cannot find my CD of the backup. Is there a way to reach the Windows partition from any combination of U Live CD, U 6.06 from normal boot, Windows boot floppy, Windows recover fdd or cd, or simply removing the hdd and plugging it into another windows computer?

I am prepared to remove the Windoze install from this computer and convert its partition to Linux, IF I can just remove all the files. TIA

It occurs to me later that booting with a W98 floppy would be fat32 and so may not be able to read NTFS. Is there a NTFS boot floppy or CD? Or am I just totally confused on this?

You can do everything suggested..

What exactly do you want to do? If you don't care about the NTFS contents, then just format the relevant partition to something Linux can eat. You don't have to delete the files separately.

Hello Nodsu, Thanks for yours. In answer to your question:

"Is there a way to reach the Windows partition from any combination of U Live CD, U 6.06 from normal boot, Windows boot floppy, Windows recover fdd or cd, or simply removing the hdd and plugging it into another windows computer?

I am prepared to remove the Windoze install from this computer and convert its partition to Linux, IF I can just remove all the files."

I don't know how to reach and rescue the files off to another medium and am seeking assistance.

Ubuntu forums suggest this may be a grub error, an actual corruption of the ntfs partition or a recoverable ntfs error from its being on the partition containing the MBR.
1) post your partition table
2) try mounting the ntfs partition again, then post the results of tail dmesg
3) verify your ntfs partition using a partition editor like QTParted.

As I said, all these work..

You can copy the partition using the dd command in any Linux. This is raw block-level copy and will work no matter how screwed up the filesystem is. You need some unpartitioned space or something similar on your target drive of course.

I am pretty sure Ubuntu can read NTFS out of the box, but if your filesystem is corrupted, it will fail. As you already saw with the mount command.

If you mean a Windows 9x boot floppy or a CD, then you have to install a NTFS reader driver. Again, it will probably fail if the FS is busted.

If you have a Win2k/XP boot CD, then you can boot into the Recovery Console and run the chkdsk utility that may repair the filesystem. After that you can try the methods above.

You can put the hard drive in another computer no problem.

As 2nd HDD seems least problematic

Will try moving it to an XP computer as second drive and see what happens. Will report results in due course. Thanks for all the assistance.

I moved the hdd into a W2k computer and clicked on the drive in My Computer. It flashed a message saying that the hdd could not be read and did I want to format it.

I am fairly sure from the above that it is corrupted (hopefully not beyond repair.) This is a real good lesson in why it pays to put Windows on one partition and data on another.

I am away for a few days but try some of the other ideas when I get back. Thanks again.