The sys admin's daily grind: ddrescue and DDRescue-GUI
Recovery Needed
Sometimes even sys admin Charly doesn't have a backup at hand; or, maybe it's ruined because the removed disk had corrupt data. Here, he offers some advice on how to handle the situation.
Krrr, krrr …! At least things are clear-cut when a hard disk gives up the ghost: You toss the offending disk, get a new one, and put the backup on it. However, those undead data media – that trick people into continuing working on them with no idea of the potential impact – are a real pain.
I recently determined that an SDHC card in my camera saves one out of 20 images (on average) as a colorful mess of pixels. I do know that memory cards give up the ghost sooner or later. However, I didn't realize that my camera could save to two cards simultaneously – a feature I stupidly didn't use. But, I'm all the wiser now.
What if really important data is stored on a haywire device that you just can't get rid of? This is where ddrescue
[1] comes in. The tool is already quite ancient, but its developers look after it untiringly and adapt it to new types of data media. (It should not be confused with the even older dd_rescue
.) Ddrescue is officially named GNU ddrescue; the packages on Debian and derivatives are therefore dubbed gddrescue
.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.