Linux How to read or access "HPFS-NTFS" drive

[tcsenter]

I have an IDE drive that TestDisk reports as "HPFS - NTFS", but is unable to actually access it, same as Windows. I tried an older version of Ubuntu 12x but it doesn't see the drive. Reportedly, many Linux distros can read or mount HPFS but you have to install support for it, doesn't come out of the box in a manner of speaking. I don't exactly understand what that means or how to do that.

Is there Linux distro that I can use as 'try it' Live mode that can be installed either to DVD or USB flash drive, booted with the necessary flags to install support for HPFS?

 

[crashtech]

It should be a fun project to try to mount that file system. You might try this:

https://archive.org/details/ntwks-351-upd

 

[tcsenter]

Alright I'll have look. Thanks! As to what may be on the disk or where it came from, in case anyone wondered, I have no idea. It was in my hoard collection of computer components that I'm going through to whittle it down.

 

[crashtech]

All I remember was that it was an OS/2 thing. It might be fun to see what's on it. Who knows, with the right ancient PC it might even be bootable.

 

[manly]

It might be HPFS or it might be NTFS. OP should know if he ever dabbled with OS/2 back in the day? (Although Windows should have no trouble with old NTFS?)

Partition type 07 is: HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

blkid could help identify the underlying filesystem.

How to List Filesystem Partition Type Codes in Linux

Understanding the filesystem partition type codes on a Linux system is crucial for managing disks and partitions effectively. These codes help identify the type of filesystem and the partitions’ role…

linuxconfig.org

This should help:

https://www.reddit.com/r/datarecovery/comments/juvocy/mounting_os2_warp_3_hpfs

 

[tcsenter]

My earliest introduction to NT was 4.0 and that was very cursory. Never exposed to OS/2, other than couple times looking over someone's else shoulder while they were showing off their computer. I wasn't into computers at all when OS/2 came out. I had been previously when I was a tween, I got a Commodore 64 in 1984 and taught myself BASIC (not very well) but got supplanted by other interests within a year or so. The C64 got boxed up, went into the closet and I hardly touched a computer of any kind again until ~1994.

 

[tcsenter]

Update: I tried installing the NT 3.51 ISO but it was not liking my HDD for whatever reason, even though it was only 20GB. I tried partitions down to 1200MB and it still just hung on formatting it. Probably has something to do with the geometry translation being used by the newer 48-bit LBA ready BIOS. e.g. maybe needed to use CHS mode, instead of LBA. Anyways....

I remembered I had purchased PRO versions of AOMEI Partition Assistant and MyRecovery, so I decided to try that. Connecting through external USB 3.5" IDE enclosure, MyRecovery deep scan seems to be just like Recuva Pro and similar tools. It found 38+ GB of recoverable files so that is running right now, waiting for it to complete. I think maybe the drive is not really HPFS at all, just NTFS format with some corrupted partition or volume descriptors. We shall see what turns up.

 

[tcsenter]

It was just corrupted NTFS volume. It was an older hard drive of mine, I think I used it in an external enclosure for a while. I did though manage to recover some scanned photos that I did not have backed up. I still have the original photos, which is probably why I never bothered about it. Saved me about an hour of having to scan them again. Otherwise, nothing else worth keeping (or already have copies). Wish I knew what was the problem getting NT 3.51 to install on this spare "should be off-the-shelf compatible" 20GB hard drive from 2001, though.

 

[crashtech]

I guess I should have asked the size of the drive before leading you down the OS/2 rabbit hole. A true OS/2 HPFS drive would very likely have been much smaller and older than the 20GB drive you describe. Also I think the max drive size for NT 3.51 is 2 GB, though I am not positive about that.

 

[tcsenter]

I guess I should have asked the size of the drive before leading you down the OS/2 rabbit hole. A true OS/2 HPFS drive would very likely have been much smaller and older than the 20GB drive you describe. Also I think the max drive size for NT 3.51 is 2 GB, though I am not positive about that.

I'm reading it should OK up to partition/volume size not to exceed 2GB using FAT(16), as long as BIOS is correctly reporting hard disk parameters and capacity (and it is). I did have 1GB RAM (single module) installed, which could have been the problem, though you'd think that would cause problems earlier in SETUP process. I found some 256MB modules so I'm going to try 256MB. Don't really have any need to use NT 3.51 anymore, but I'm curious about it now and would like to try it out.

 

[crashtech]

I'd be interested to see if it works and what you think. Might be worth its own thread!