From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Thu Oct 19 08:47:55 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED826E33BE5 for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2017 08:47:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank2@fjl.co.uk) Received: from bs1.fjl.org.uk (bs1.fjl.org.uk [84.45.41.196]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "bs1.fjl.org.uk", Issuer "bs1.fjl.org.uk" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 924A515C2 for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2017 08:47:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from frank2@fjl.co.uk) Received: from [192.168.1.186] (host81-134-87-65.range81-130.btcentralplus.com [81.134.87.65]) (authenticated bits=0) by bs1.fjl.org.uk (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id v9J8lrXA023886 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Thu, 19 Oct 2017 09:47:53 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from frank2@fjl.co.uk) User-Agent: K-9 Mail for Android In-Reply-To: References: <59DBA387.4050108@gmail.com> <20171009191435.145c9dd2.freebsd@edvax.de> <72772933-C642-43DB-AFD6-6B5D40EEF39E@fjl.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Subject: Re: How to recover data from dead hard drive. From: "Frank Leonhardt (m)" Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2017 09:47:42 +0100 To: FreeBSD , Carmel NY Message-ID: X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2017 08:47:56 -0000 On 14 October 2017 11:14:26 BST, Carmel NY wrote: >On Fri, 13 Oct 2017 12:03:11 +0100, Frank Leonhardt (m) stated: > >>Good list that. ddrescue is, IME, the place to start. >>I also have some expensive licensed software for recovering incomplete >file >>systems, and charge Windows users like a wounded rhinoceros when they >need >>their data back. > >Years ago, I used "Spinrite" to recover a damaged drive. It worked >better than >anything else on the market, at least for me, at the time. I don't >think it >has been maintained in over a decade though. > >Personally, I fail to understand why anyone with any "mission critical" >system would not be using some form of RAID. It doesn't make any sense >to me. >Even my Laptop is configured to automatically back up data to a cloud >service. >Even if the drive went south, I could restore all of my data. I can explain why people aren't using RAID... IME It's because they think they are. But they do it wrong, and only find out when things go wrong. Most if the disasters I deal with involve "hardware" RAID cards. I won't single out PERC or MegaRAID because that wouldn't be fair. People are using stupid operating systems (i.e. not FreeBSD or Solaris) and the HBA acts as a volume manager. The OS is clueless when a drive goes flaky as all it sees is one big drive, and the first the know if a problem is when the final one croaks. (Who is there to see the identity lamp flashing red). Companies pay lots of money for this kit (to run Windows) and believe what they were told when they bought it. The more kit costs, the more lusers trust it. -- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.