Re: [PLUG] Saving data from a precarious drive

["Mark Baker" <mark.baker@hxti.com>]

I wouldn't worry about taxing the drive. I would get the data off as 
soon as possible.   I have had very good results with dd_rescue.  In my 
opinion it is one of the best tools out there.  When you have a server 
go down due to a drive failure & in a moment of panic realize that the 
backups havent been running on that server.... dd_rescue will save 
your butt every time.

http://www.garloff.de/kurt/linux/ddrescue/

Mark

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Art Alexion [mailto:art.alexion@verizon.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 8:12 AM
> To: plug@lists.phillylinux.org
> Subject: [PLUG] Saving data from a precarious drive
> 
> I have a 200 GB IDE drive that recently stopped being detected by the 
BIOS.
> After I did a dist-upgrade and was forced to reboot, the drive 
reappeared.
> The drive had not given me problems prior to disappearing.  I still 
don't
> trust it and am ordering a replacement.
> 
> Once the replacement arrives I want to copy the contents, mostly audio 
files,
> to the new drive, but don't want to do it in a way that will tax the 
drive
> and make it fail during the copy.
> 
> My first thought was rsync, but I am concerned about the effect this
> (transferring ~180 GB at once) may have on the precarious drive.
> 
> Another thought was to just copy a little at a time, giving it a 
chance to
> rest in between, but am reminded that sometimes turning things on and 
off
> causes more wear than being left on.
> 
> What are the best practices in this situation?

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