[ILUG] [OT] ddrescue on a Macbook

[Paul Murray]

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 1:00 PM, Thomas Rooney <tom at dreadserver.com> wrote:
> Hi All... happy new year
>
> I'm using ddrescue on a Macbook in an attempt to rescue its 120GB
> drive it's giving me the output below after 20 hours
>
> Press Ctrl-C to interrupt
> rescued:      120 GB,  errsize:  34093 kB,  current rate:        0 B/s
>  ipos:   271094 kB,   errors:     312,    average rate:    2389 kB/s
>  opos:   271094 kB
> Splitting error areas...
>
> That looks to me like it has imaged the drive i.e.  "rescued:      120
> GB" but the program is still running.

It had 312 errors, which it is now probably retrying depending on how
many retries you specified.

> Can anyone tell me if
> it would be ok to stop the program now and begin to try rescue files
> from the image or has ddrescue got more tricks to try.

If you specified a path to a log file for ddrescue then you can safely
stop and see what you've got, and then go back and retry again later
as it will use the log file to concentrate on the 312 errors.

> Anyone on the list had any luck using ddrescue?

Yes, quite a bit of luck actually. I usually run it without any
retries and logging to a memory stick, then review the output, and
retry 5 times at a go for each error and see how it gets.

I've never had a drive with that many errors though.

You can improve your chances with cooling. SOme here would say freeze
the drive, I tend to disagree, but your mileage may vary. My rescues
usually involve having the bad drive under a desk cooling fan.

HTH,

Paul.