Re: Photoscore

[David Kastrup]

David Wright <address@hidden> writes:

> On Mon 28 Nov 2016 at 21:26:17 (+0000), Karlin High wrote:
>> On 11/28/2016 2:12 PM, David Wright wrote:
>> > So it should be worth booting from a live linux CD to mount the
>> > partitions to check their contents, and to reinstall Grub
>> > (or whatever you use to boot) into the MBR.
>> 
>> The thing to do IMMEDIATELY is make a "drive image backup."
>
> That would certainly be the action to take if the drive was giving
> disk errors.

It's also the action to take if you are dealing with damage to the data
structures.

> I don't know anything about these particular tools. I would use a tool
> like GNU ddrescue works its way from good part of the disk to bad
> parts, so maximising the amount of data recovered. It keeps a log file
> of its actions so that the process can be interrupted. After all,
> recovering a large, badly damaged disk can take a very long time.

We are not talking about hardware damage in this case.

> Some or all of these actions can avoid the need to purchase another
> drive of at least the same size, whose cost can be considerable, and,
> after downloading a live CD onto a USB stick, could potentially set a
> data owner's mind at rest after only a few minutes.

My father is living away several hours and is not technically savvy.
The system boots into some sort of maintenance mode, so making a disk
image via dd via phone instructions is going to be reasonably easy.  He
can then send the image over by matter mail.

> Of course, if you've got the cash, you can just hand the disk or
> entire system to a data recovery agency that you trust, who will have
> professionals to do the job. But many of us do not live in that world.

A few lucky ones have capable children though.

-- 
David Kastrup