Disk Recovery - Part II

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

dsr at tao.merseine.nu suggested:
> I would recommend using rsync rather than dd,
> and then reinstalling your boot loader.

Hmm, good question which way to go with that.  A drive which is failing might
go further south more quickly if you give it a workout.

Most of the power consumed by a hard drive (at least, the 3.5" ones, don't
know about the smaller ones) during heavy I/O operations is not in the spindle
motor--it's in the solenoid which drives the head assembly.  Takes a lot of
current to physically move the mass from one location to another, with
precision, in less than a hundredth of a second.

Bottom line:  the rsync command will generate a lot of head seeks.  The dd
command won't.  Depending on the nature of the drive's failure (are more bad
blocks appearing as you use the drive?) you might want to consider this fact
as you attempt recovery.

One obvious thing you can do to maximize your chances is to run the system
with the case open and add supplemental cooling from a fan directly onto the
drive.

-rich