Imaging a failing hard drive in pieces, because the drive only works for short periods of time

My laptop's hard drive's bearings are failing and I would like to make
an image of it before I replace it. I have taken the drive out and
connected it to another computer through a usb enclosure. For short
periods of time (a few minutes at a time) I can read the drive and copy
files (although slowly, at only 1MB/s). I'd like to try to image it
instead, but I don't know of any imaging programs that can do it in
pieces, and can handle the drive quitting periodically, without
canceling and dumping the image and making me start over. I am a
programmer and am considering making a program to image it in pieces,
but I know it will take me alot of time to make it.

Does anyone know of a drive imager that can do what I need? I can use
linux if necessary (a Knoppix live-cd, sending the data to another
windows computer over ethernet).

Thanks in advance!

 

Try wrapping it in a plastic bag and putting it in a freezer for a
couple of hours, then see how long it will allow you to copy before it
craps out.

 

|>On 23 Oct 2005 10:46:29 -0700, wrote:
|>
|>>My laptop's hard drive's bearings are failing and I would like to make
|>>an image of it before I replace it. I have taken the drive out and
|>>connected it to another computer through a usb enclosure. For short
|>>periods of time (a few minutes at a time) I can read the drive and copy
|>>files (although slowly, at only 1MB/s). I'd like to try to image it
|>>instead, but I don't know of any imaging programs that can do it in
|>>pieces, and can handle the drive quitting periodically, without
|>>canceling and dumping the image and making me start over. I am a
|>>programmer and am considering making a program to image it in pieces,
|>>but I know it will take me alot of time to make it.
|>>
|>>Does anyone know of a drive imager that can do what I need? I can use
|>>linux if necessary (a Knoppix live-cd, sending the data to another
|>>windows computer over ethernet).


|>Try wrapping it in a plastic bag and putting it in a freezer for a
|>couple of hours, then see how long it will allow you to copy before it
|>craps out.

That would be my suggestion as well http://tinyurl.com/8mf7d

 

The dd command in knoppix will copy out one sector out at a time.
You can boot up knoppix, and inside konqueror web browser type man:dd
to get instructions or just google. You can also compress on the fly
by piping it into gzip. Again google for all the variants of the
commands.

 

I have tried putting it in the freezer for a few minutes, but it didn't
improve. I have heard that the freezer trick will ruin the drive and
should only be used as a last resort. I suppose I am at that point, but
I hesitate to do something that could ruin it when there is still hope
of imaging it piece by piece as it is. I'll look some more into making
a program myself, and continue to check here in case someone knows of
one already. Thanks for the response!

 

Karen's Replicator might be useful to you. While not strictly an
"imager" in the sector by sector sense, it *will* copy everything on a
drive to wherever.

The reason I think it might work for you is that the copy job parameters
can be set in various ways; for example, "copy only if changed". If it
was busy copying and the source drive bombed, the next time you ran the
job it wouldn't copy the files already existing on the destination.
True, it would compare the size and/or date to the source but that is a
lot faster than copying.

The destination drive can later be copied to a new drive (once formatted
and with boot files) and that new drive will be exactly as the old, bad
one was.

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp



--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

That sounds like a good idea. The only possible negative to copying the
files instead of the sectors, is file copying (especially when copying
many small files, or from a badly fragmented partition like mine) is
slower and requires alot of head seeking which may be hard on the
drive. But I will seriously consider Replicator. Thanks!

 

I missed your post at first. But that sounds very good. Can dd copy
sector ranges, so when the drive quits, I can restart the copying from
where it left off? Or will it only do all or nothing? I'll go check it
out now. Oh, I almost forgot, I tried once to use a hard drive in my
usb enclosure in knoppix, but I couldn't find it in konqueror. Maybe
knoppix didn't automatically notice the drive and mount it? But I don't
know how to mount it manually. I don't know what a usb drive would be
called, like /dev/ something. I'll go google for using usb drives in
linux...

 

Yes the sector range can be given.

/dev/sda1 is usual for usb disks.

But it should be on your desktop after booting - sometimes a delay
as it does it auto detect.
If no luck, try also DSL or Mepis - those I have working without any hassle.
http://www.livecdlist.com

 

wrote:

|>I have tried putting it in the freezer for a few minutes, but it didn't
|>improve. I have heard that the freezer trick will ruin the drive and
|>should only be used as a last resort. I suppose I am at that point, but
|>I hesitate to do something that could ruin it when there is still hope
|>of imaging it piece by piece as it is. I'll look some more into making
|>a program myself, and continue to check here in case someone knows of
|>one already. Thanks for the response!

I've always seen this as a nondestructive approach, yet one of last
resort .

The reason for the plastic bag is to keep condensation from the drive,
and the cold just reduces tolerances of the drive.

 

If everything important has been backed up, viz., data files,
text files, pictures, etc., then why waste time. Time to replace
the HD and do a fresh install. Really too late to make an image,
even piece-by-piece...really expect the HD to hold together for
n-number of restarts?

 

Trouble is, as soon as you open the bag to hook up the drive all the
condensation in the world settles on the drive.


--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

True, I have already copied off my most important files, but it will
still take alot of time to rebuild if I can't image it. I have alot of
programs installed and configured. I really regret not having imaged it
periodically before this happened, of course. I'll be better about
backups from now on. And no, I'm not sure if it will survive long
enough, but I'm willing to at least try.

 

But the cold may make the bearings more sticky. I might try it if all
else fails though.

 

Yes, that concerns me too.

 

I didn't think of scsi emulation. I haven't got the chance to try
knoppix yet, but as soon as i do, I'll try that.

 

|>Trax wrote:
|>> wrote:
|>>
|>>>> I have tried putting it in the freezer for a few minutes, but it
|>>>> didn't improve. I have heard that the freezer trick will ruin the
|>>>> drive and should only be used as a last resort. I suppose I am at
|>>>> that point, but I hesitate to do something that could ruin it when
|>>>> there is still hope of imaging it piece by piece as it is. I'll
|>>>> look some more into making a program myself, and continue to check
|>>>> here in case someone knows of one already. Thanks for the response!

|>> I've always seen this as a nondestructive approach, yet one of last
|>> resort .
|>>
|>> The reason for the plastic bag is to keep condensation from the drive,
|>> and the cold just reduces tolerances of the drive.

|>Trouble is, as soon as you open the bag to hook up the drive all the
|>condensation in the world settles on the drive.

<G> Bags not for the freezer. The drive would be enclosed in the
plastic with the cable protruding and all openings seal'd.

Pull it out, plug it in, and words to your deity doesn't hurt.

 

Old-time photographer's trick. The condensation is on the
outside, where it belongs, and not on the inside. It was
primarily a technique to prevent condensation on the inside
of lenses, range-finder prisms, etc. Take a soft, absorbent
cloth and dry off the condensation and everything will be
fine.

BTW, good luck on your imaging attempt.

 

Do not mess about--you know what you need from the drive? yes?---an
image is everything--OS blank space etall.
Grab data as you can see it--not the os stuff--your saved files.
I am suprised as a programer you have not backed it up,and there is no
need to make a prog to do this,comercialy available and freeware.
When you can acess the drive ,copy evrything that you need--even if it
is slow--just do it.Messing with it could mean you have one less chance.
Freezing the drive is an option as mentioned by other posters,not a few
minutes tho,24HRS,leave the lead connected also---out of
freezer/boot/grab files---time is of the essence--minutes count here,so
ensure you have a system ready for imediate copying-----not trying to
teach you to suck eggs but you need to hook the drive up in minutes
after removal from freezer,not as a friend did,froze overnight,put in
pocket,went to work,then tried some 2hrs later.

 

Data isn't the issue. I had a month old backup, and when the drive
started really failing, the very first thing I did was backup all my
data again. It is the OS and programs that I don't want to reinstall
and reconfigure, although I can since I have all the CDs and most of
the downloaded installers. So I hope to image the system partition (I
had 2 partitions, the other with data) to avoid all the time and effort
of rebuilding. Since I had resized the system partition down to minimal
free space, the image won't be much bigger than the contained files. As
for already available drive image software, AFAIK they can only image
the drive as a whole and if the drive won't last more than a few
minutes at a time, they won't be able to complete the image in one the
session. But I am hopeful about knoppix's dd. I'll also try the freezer
trick (and sealing the drive with the cable in a bag, and leaving it
for 24hr).

I have had to work on other projects today so haven't got a chance to
try all the ideas you all have given me. But I really appreciate all
the quick help! This was my first time asking for help on usenet.
Google groups is very easy to use.