Any *genuine* IT hardware gurus here?
Comments
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+1Sketchley wrote:Must remember to backup when I get home.....0 -
Sketchley wrote:Must remember to backup when I get home.....
need to be something you can't forget.
which is why use automated systems since you'll always forget at the wrong moment.0 -
Pfft, I've been using computers for 20 years and never backed up and all my data's fine so that's why I don't wear a helmet.Sketchley wrote:Must remember to backup when I get home.....0 -
Well now... Sorry, been out all day.
*tamps pipe.
In my experience, the fridge/freezer option is likely to help only if the problem is caused by a stuck motor. You can quite often get an idea whether it's stuck by holding the drive while it's powering up. The fact that you're seeing some data recovery suggests that this isn't the case.
More often, it'll be a bit of muck/dust on the platter, and that's actually stopping the drive head from reading the data correctly (sometimes by physically scratching the surface)... The trouble with this is that the head will quite often move that bit of cruft about, thereby spreading the problem.
I've had some really really good success with ddrescue, which tries to do several passes over the disk: a first "as much as possible" go, then several more iterative attempts to get the stubborn data, sometimes even reading the disk "backwards" in order to rebuild from the other "end". I wouldn't be surprised if SpinRite uses this technique too, but don't know for sure. I have rescued several "dead" disks like this, and I think one more using the "wrist flick" method that Sun Microsystems used about 20 years ago.
I do know a bit about this sort of bobbins. SMART is pretty useless, btw. See the Google paper for why...
Why don't I have a girlfriend? I couldn't possibly guess...
[edit] Further dribblings:
How is the recovered data stored? The best way IMO is to make an image of the disk on another (larger, new*) disk, then try recovering that as a filesystem.
[edit the 2nd]:
Essentially, my advice is to attempt to take an image of that disk using ddrescue (although I'm just checking out SpinRite to see how it works) to a larger hard disk AS AN IMAGE, then try mounting that image to see what data you can get back. If everything important is back, do a little dance. If not, swear a bit; there are other options available, depending on what state the drive is in (hitherto unheard clicking noises aren't usually good). One other thing is that it's probably a good idea to have it attached to a decent quality power supply, and by its native interface: a single IDE->USB thing with a ropey lightweight PSU probably isn't going to help (this is me getting a little bit superstitious, but I don't much care for using them IDE/SATA->USB things for recovery jobs taking 60 hours+)
[edit the 3rd]:
Looked at the docs and stuff for SpinRite. It's certainly an excellent choice; my only gripes with it is that it tries to write the (hopefully) recovered data back to the hard disk -- I believe this is silly, and that it doesn't apparently have a "reverse read" recovery mode. I suspect that the random sector skip will mitigate that, and possibly even do better. ddrescue to a bigger disk will remain my weapon of choice, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to buy SpinRite if I thought I had a need.
*: I may have done an 8am run to PCFeckingWorld. What of it?Sometimes parts break. Sometimes you crash. Sometimes it’s your fault.0 -
s'alright, you've got the wrist method perfecteddavis wrote:Why don't I have a girlfriend? I couldn't possibly guess...0 -
Aha-ha! Got home and set to the USB stick with tweezers, making sure all connections were tight (fully appreciate it's not the most technical of methods) and it only bloody worked - all files recovered. Boom!
In yo' face, datarecoveryuk, in yo' face...£399+VAT?! Pah!0 -
EKE_38BPM wrote:Just send an email to an address in Iran explaining that you can't send the centrifuge results data that you promised to as your hard drive is busted. Throw in a few "May peace be upon him"s and a couple of "God is great"s and some very nice American gentlemen will take your hard drive away to fix.
If you're really lucky, they may even take you on an all expenses paid, fully inclusive, trip to Cuba.
You may or may not get your hard drive back....If you come back at all.
genus pure GuinnessRule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
Greg66 wrote:Ok. This is confirming what I'm thinking.
Ultimatebootcd - Have one of those, but wanted to run Spinrite through to resolution or otherwise first.
Fridge/freezer - recommended by Spinrite as a cure for a stall (the fridge, for an hour). On my "to do" list.
Backups. Yes, well, there's a funny* story there. Everything gets auto backed up to an external drive overnight using Vista's inbuilt backup. That started throwing cyclic redundancy messages (the beginning of the problem) and not completing the backup. So I thought I'd run chkdsk, backup from fresh. Now I know from experience that Backup doesn't like starting again when there's already a backup on the backup disc. Ran chkdsk (three stage - returned all clear), deleted the back up** which was too big for the recycle bin, and started a fresh backup. Which failed. Errr...
An option is to use a data recovery tool on the backup drive, replace the corrupted drive and restore.
Content - OS and programs only. Data is stored externally on other drives. However, some software is locked to that drive, and if I replace the drive I will have to repurchase (have been through an OS failure previously and rebuilt). There are 2 or 3 programs like that which will end up costing c £200. And if i rebuild I'll probably buy W7 to replace Vista, so more £££. In short, a ground up rebuild is a costs issue rather than a data loss issue. And yet I've spent many multiples of that cost in terms of my time on this already. Go figure.
Prime objective therefore is to get it booting, then de-authorise the programs I want to save, clone it if I can, and then bin and replace. Secondary is to replace and restore from data-recovered backup. Tertiary is restore and rebuild from scratch.
*Funny, if you're not me
** yes, you read that right :oops:
If there's no data you require, then I'd be inclined to give up and contact the support lines of the software you need de-authorising.
I've had some luck with the freezing trick before (throw it in a freezer bag in the freezer, leave for a few hours), but that's been pretty much mount them and then try and recover as much data as I can before it crashes.0 -
Put your hi-viz away and step away from the computer anyone who suggested backing up, usb or any other such 1980s style tech.
G66 sorry to here about your porn loss but these days they have all that weird perverted stuff online as well. Once you finally establish if youve totally lost or recovered this data, start using a service like dropbox, skydrive, google docs, ubuntu one etc etc to store all your files on the internet-porn, they will give you 5-25GB of free space after that extra space, backups version control and 24x7 365 access to your data will be a thing of the past.Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
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Greg66 wrote:But I don't wanna have to live in Vietnam!
Waaaaahhhhhh!
Anyway dont you have a clerk who could take care of that for you?Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
G66: I could probably guide you though some of the ddrescue stuff I was going on (and on, and on) about... assuming you're not an utter spanner...Sometimes parts break. Sometimes you crash. Sometimes it’s your fault.0
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Won't help in this situation but I recently purchased an Iomega storCentre. All the devices in the house back up to it (including phones) and it's 1TB of mirrored storage. It's by the front door to be collected in case of fire evacuation. It then regularly backs up the photo folder to the Amazon S3 cloud.
Probably overkill, but I'd hate to lose my photos.Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
Sun - Cervelo R3
Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX0 -
itboffin wrote:Put your hi-viz away and step away from the computer anyone who suggested backing up, usb or any other such 1980s style tech.
G66 sorry to here about your porn loss but these days they have all that weird perverted stuff online as well. Once you finally establish if youve totally lost or recovered this data, start using a service like dropbox, skydrive, google docs, ubuntu one etc etc to store all your files on the internet-porn, they will give you 5-25GB of free space after that extra space, backups version control and 24x7 365 access to your data will be a thing of the past.
Dropbox is handy for bits and pieces, especially if you need to access from various locations, but it's pretty limited for serious volumes of storage. We looked into online storage and backup for work and decided that, with the number and size of files we work on, it wasn't really feasible with standard broadband.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Asprilla wrote:Won't help in this situation but I recently purchased an Iomega storCentre. All the devices in the house back up to it (including phones) and it's 1TB of mirrored storage. It's by the front door to be collected in case of theft. It then regularly backs up the photo folder to the Amazon S3 cloud.
Probably overkill, but I'd hate to lose my photos.
Ftfy. Seriously, move it.What do you mean you think 64cm is a big frame?0 -
cyclingprop wrote:Asprilla wrote:Won't help in this situation but I recently purchased an Iomega storCentre. All the devices in the house back up to it (including phones) and it's 1TB of mirrored storage. It's by the front door to be collected in case of theft. It then regularly backs up the photo folder to the Amazon S3 cloud.
Probably overkill, but I'd hate to lose my photos.
Ftfy. Seriously, move it.
It's under a piece of furniture. Not visible but easily moveable if you know where it is.Mud - Genesis Vapour CCX
Race - Fuji Norcom Straight
Sun - Cervelo R3
Winter / Commute - Dolan ADX0 -
Asprilla wrote:cyclingprop wrote:Asprilla wrote:Won't help in this situation but I recently purchased an Iomega storCentre. All the devices in the house back up to it (including phones) and it's 1TB of mirrored storage. It's by the front door to be collected in case of theft. It then regularly backs up the photo folder to the Amazon S3 cloud.
Probably overkill, but I'd hate to lose my photos.
Ftfy. Seriously, move it.
It's under a piece of furniture. Not visible but easily moveable if you know where it is.
Psst. It's under a piece of furniture, by the front door! :twisted:0 -
What Greg didnt mention was this is his computer
Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.0 -
