Rescuing and restoring data
Just imagine a good friend coming back from vacation totally downcast: Iceland was a total failure, she says – bad weather, lousy hotel, and her camera ate up its memory card. All the geysers and trolls she photographed are now gone. Fortunately, special rescue tools exist precisely for such cases. You get to work immediately, hoping to make your friend happy.
Don't Panic
To avoid causing even more damage, it is important to keep calm in this kind of emergency. If you see a read error during normal operation, make a backup of the disk immediately, thus rescuing the remaining readable files at least (see the "Examination Board" box). As in the digital camera example here, if you are missing multiple files and directories or experience severe read errors, switch off the power quickly. This is the only way to prevent further writes, which would exacerbate the damage. The approach that follows will help you save not only hard disks, memory cards, and SSDs, but also scratched CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays – assuming the disks do not use copy protection.
First, you should enable physical write protection for the defective medium as soon as possible. This means that the rescue attempt cannot destroy the operating system, and the rescue tools cannot destroy the data. The memory card from the digital camera, in the case initially described, turned out to be a slightly older 2GB SD card; write-protecting it was easily accomplished by moving the small write-protect tab on the right side.
[...]
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
-
Hannah Montana Linux Is Back!
Developer Noah Cagle decided the world needed the once obscure but beloved Linux distribution and gave it a decidedly pink refresh.
-
System76 Refreshes the Lemur Laptop
If you're looking for a laptop with tons of power and battery, look no further than the latest iteration of the System76 Lemur Pro.
-
More than 43 Million Lines of Code in Linux Kernel 7.2
Using the cloc utility, Michael Larabel of Phoronix discovered that Linux kernel 7.2 has over 43 million lines of code.
-
Kubuntu Focus Goes Ultra
The Kubuntu Focus team has upped the performance ante of its M2 and Zr laptops with the latest, greatest CPUs from Intel.
-
Linux Gamers May Soon See Less Mouse Lag in KDE Plasma
Gamers using KDE’s Plasma desktop have been suffering from a slight input delay in mouse movement that could lead to getting fragged.
-
Three Lines of Code Improve Linux Storage Performance
A developer changed three lines of code, giving Linux storage performance a 5% bump.
-
AUR Hit Again with Malicious Packages
Once again the Arch User Repository is plagued by a high volume of malicious packages.
-
Alpine Linux 3.24 Features Fresh Desktops and a Newer Kernel
If you're a fan of Alpine Linux, it's time to upgrade because the latest version has been released with KDE Plasma 6.6, Gnome 50, and Linux kernel 6.18 LTS.
-
EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
Comprehensive measures adopted by the European Commission aim to reduce dependency on non-EU countries.
-
Linux Foundation Report Indicates AI Driving Tech Hiring
Within growing security and skills gaps, AI has been found to be a positive driving force behind tech hiring trends in Europe.