COPY bad DISK Topic is solved

Using TestDisk to repair the filesystem
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Fiona
Posts: 2835
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 17:19
Location: Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart - Germany

Re: COPY bad DISK

#11 Post by Fiona »

Would it be possible to use TestDisk to work with your clone but at least to diagnose it?
Did you create an image or did you make a sector copy?

Fiona

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ducklip
Posts: 27
Joined: 23 May 2012, 15:55

Re: COPY bad DISK

#12 Post by ducklip »

Good day Fiona,

I now have a copy that I can work on and a Master copy if something goes wrong....

I was told by my friend Andy who has been coaching me with the "ddrescue" operation to proceed in the direction below:

Figure out what partition it is and run tesdisk on the device:

sudo testdisk /dev/sdb

Select the partition, select Intel and then select the Advanced option (use cursor keys to navigate and enter to select)

Select the option to write the backup MBR. Make it go and then exit.

Reboot and boot into Windows and see what happens.... Try to make it repair the filesystem if you can.

If it won't work, there are other options to recover your files but they are less easy and somewhat messy.

Fiona wrote:Did you create an image or did you make a sector copy?
An image of the entire contents of the drive was created with ddrescue, so now I have both a Master copy and a copy of that...

So...what do you think Fiona, am I on the right track? Andy is a GENIUS but 2 experts are better then one! :D
Last edited by ducklip on 09 Jun 2012, 14:44, edited 2 times in total.

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Fiona
Posts: 2835
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 17:19
Location: Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart - Germany

Re: COPY bad DISK

#13 Post by Fiona »

Yes of course ! :)
I'll help you as much I can.
Just start to diagnose your disk.
Please let me know the results.
Until tomorrow I'm on vacation and not as much online (whitsun holiday).
At monday I'm online just as normal.

Fiona

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ducklip
Posts: 27
Joined: 23 May 2012, 15:55

Re: COPY bad DISK

#14 Post by ducklip »

Hello everyone...

I was not able to repair the disk...even though with testdisk I was able to have both BS good and identical and the MBR matched and was good and wrote to disk and rebooted. The disk was still not recognized under Windows nor would it repair the filesystem with chkdsk.

Soooooooooooooooooooo......the good news is,

Since I copied my bad drive to new external drive using ddrescue- I can see all my files on testdisk...

I am going to try and copy them on to a disc with a good filesystem.

wish me luck! ;)

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Fiona
Posts: 2835
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 17:19
Location: Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart - Germany

Re: COPY bad DISK

#15 Post by Fiona »

Yes, I'll do! :)
Also do some spot tests from your files.
Everything in your case was indicating a damaged file system.
You were not giving up, and you have had a fortune that you're able to list your files.
Hopefully that's gonna work!

Fiona

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ducklip
Posts: 27
Joined: 23 May 2012, 15:55

Re: COPY bad DISK

#16 Post by ducklip »

Here is what I did to finish the process....

Hi ducklip

Since you are able to list your files, this is what I suggest...

Find a drive with enough room to receive the files you want to pluck out of the image drive. Mount it. Change directory into it so you don't have to go looking for it while you are in Testdisk. Follow commands below to execute the process...

mkdir mnt

sudo mount /dev/sdc1
(or whatever the device turns out to be) mnt

cd mnt

sudo testdisk /dev/sdb (assuming sdb is the drive with the ddrescue image)
(navigate through testdisk to analyse and pick files.)

Press "c" to copy. It will ask you where to put it, Make sure the . is highlighted (.) The dot is the current directory. Two dots is one level up like so:

.
..
/documents
etc...

Press "y" for "Yes, copy the folder I selected to here (.)

Do the same for all the folders you want. Or you can select them ALL to be copied if you choose too.

Just be careful to make sure you always select the correct drive....

Andy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well folks, friends and neighbors from around the world...The verdict is in!!!

And I am HAPPY to announce that by using "RESCUE REMIX” it has ddrescue and testdisk as a part of it's package - I was able to successfully list ALL my data and copy it all to a new working drive.

I did first spot test a few files and that was successful and they worked perfectly....

I started this journey on May 24th so I have been working on this with the help of my friend Andy who is the Creator of Rescue Remix for the past 18 days.

I do want to point out that in the beginning to get the process going I had to take the bad drive out of it's external housing and put it in a new housing for my computer to recognize it.

Anyway - by not panicking, rushing or losing hope, the long tedious effort paid off...Patience went along way to get me through the stressful times too...

This was a great learning experience. I had everything else backed up except the drive that went bad...The reason I didn’t back it up because it was soooo BIG.

Well trust me that bad boy is backed up now... :)

God bless to all, thanks to Fiona for being there to pet my head and make me feel like I wasn’t alone...

This case is SOLVED!

Love,
ducklip

User avatar
Fiona
Posts: 2835
Joined: 18 Feb 2012, 17:19
Location: Ludwigsburg/Stuttgart - Germany

Re: COPY bad DISK

#17 Post by Fiona »

Thanks for your feedback, and that you found a solution which worked for you. :)
I'll set your topic as solved!

Fiona

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