On 05/08/2015 at 02:48 PM, Gary Dale wrote: > On 08/05/15 02:32 PM, German wrote: > >> On Fri, 08 May 2015 14:23:39 -0400 The Wanderer >> <wanderer@fastmail.fm> wrote: >>> Yes, that's what I'd do in your situation. A 2.5TB drive should >>> be more than enough; that would also let you store the >>> sdb_failed.ddrescuelog file on the same drive, if you need to, so >>> you don't have to worry about finding space for it elsewhere. >> Thanks so much. I wait when I can get a bigger drive. Have a >> greatest day! > > I think Wanderer may be overstating the problem a little. If the two > drives are exactly the same size, you can use ddrescue to duplicate > the failed drive onto the new drive (ddrescue if=/dev/sdb > of=/dev/sdc). However this will limit you to recovering in place on > new drive. In my experience, single-pass recovery like this does not work very reliably or very well; it also doesn't let you make the "backup copy" you originally suggested, which is a good idea if you have the space (though I never have had). It's technically possible, yes, but I wouldn't want to trust or rely on it in any case where the source device is potentially prone to failure - and in any scenario where it isn't, you're unlikely to want to use one of the *rescue tools in the first place. (There's also the consideration of finding space for the ddrescue log file if you're restoring directly to the identical-size device; that file that may not be as important in some scenarios, but I wouldn't want to try to do such a rescue without one.) > Hopefully the file system is repairable which will make this > possible. If the file system isn't, you need a third drive to hold > recovered files. That's another point, yes; if the filesystem isn't directly repairable, you may have to use forensic tools to dig in and recover data, and at that point it's just easier to work with a separate file IMO. I certainly wouldn't say there are never times when direct device-to-device recovery like that is appropriate, but I haven't encountered one and I would not recommend it as a base-practices procedure. -- The Wanderer The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
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