Using SystemRescueCd to recover partition data
Got Your Back
If your Linux or Windows system won't boot, or if you're worried that the hard disk is on its last legs, the first thing you need to do is rescue the partition data and copy it to a safe location.
Everyone has experienced the dreaded "file not found" and "missing operating system" messages. And, you've probably seen the error messages GRUB spits out, including: "Read Error," "Hard Disk Error," and even "No such partition." Plenty of problems can happen at boot time. And, of course, the practical result of all these problems is that you can't get to your data.
So, what happens when you can't recover a partition that contains valuable data? You either need to repair the disk or make a copy of the failed partition and get it to a remote system so that you can then mount it and obtain the data you need. Usually, this means finding a way to copy the partition, then transfer it across the network to a system that has the ability to mount the partition and obtain the data.
Ideally, you've already backed up that partition. Notice that I just wrote "ideally." If you're like many people, you've either completely forgotten to make a backup, or you've created a backup but it is too old. Or, you might have even misplaced the backup.
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