Need for Data Recovery, a potential solution? Would Time-shift save my /home Partition? Linux

[Joe Jackman]

This was my previous post, still haven't done nothing about it and i thought of this idea just now. Ik i can use ddrescue but i really want to preserve the HDD as is- rsync is dumb in this regard caz it cant ignore bad sectors

, then wipe and repair the HDD with Bad sectors.

[tikker]

1 hour ago, Joe Jackman said:

Ik i can use ddrescue but i really want to preserve the HDD as is- rsync is dumb in this regard caz it cant ignore bad sectors

I think this is exactly why ddrescue exists... Copying 1 TB will take a while, nothing you can do about that. What do you mean "preserve the HDD as is"?

 

[TorC]

It may be half-dozen of one and six of another, but Puppy Linux Live is the way I, personally would go.  Selectivity as to files recovered and media on which files are saved allows flexibility not present with dd. 

 

Just create either a Live CD or USB, alter BIOS to boot to it, and go!  Save to whatever is convinient.

 

Then, one can 'repair' the hard drive, if desired

 

Go for it!

[Joe Jackman]

3 hours ago, tikker said:

I think this is exactly why ddrescue exists... Copying 1 TB will take a while, nothing you can do about that. What do you mean "preserve the HDD as is"?

 

Its like the gnome extensions, the browser data (i use vivaldi and i forgot the encrypted key so i cant just sync it, i really dont wanna waste time to set all my bookmarks, history and configs like 100mbps half duplex, xrander etc. i really dont want to go through all that. I use liunx just so i can get things done-mostly study and abit of python learning. 
so what i mean by HDD as is are those data and config files- let me explain, idk the technical term for this caz i am very new, not even an year passed since i main linux, and windows for gaming only ofc.

https://www.distrotube.com/blog/move-your-home-folder-to-second-drive/ . If i am not mistaken, your /home partition is where your data to whatever software you install resides. Now say if you want to move to a larger HDD, you can simply rsync your whole /home partition (doesnt matter where it is on- mine was in a external HDD) to a new HDD. Then simply modify the script using vim or Vi to make the OS boot with the new HDD as its /home partition. This does not require you to reinstall or even shutdown your pc (but after you make the modify you need to restart- once !!). Everything down to where you hid your p*rn stays as is and the machine will run as if nothing ever happened. I did this 2 twice, pretty easy once you read the article and video made by the same person.

So this is what i mean, i just want to do anything new nor can i spend hours on this caz i have to study and the exams in 4 months.

 

[Joe Jackman]

24 minutes ago, TorC said:

It may be half-dozen of one and six of another, but Puppy Linux Live is the way I, personally would go.  Selectivity as to files recovered and media on which files are saved allows flexibility not present with dd. 

 

Just create either a Live CD or USB, alter BIOS to boot to it, and go!  Save to whatever is convinient.

 

Then, one can 'repair' the hard drive, if desired

 

Go for it!

the bad sectors is like 2002 out of idk million ? and ya i can always use my pop os live cd. whats special about puppy?

 

[tikker]

29 minutes ago, Joe Jackman said:

the bad sectors is like 2002 out of idk million ? and ya i can always use my pop os live cd. whats special about puppy?

 

Bad sectors are bad sectors, and they are a bad sign.

32 minutes ago, Joe Jackman said:

Its like the gnome extensions, the browser data (i use vivaldi and i forgot the encrypted key so i cant just sync it, i really dont wanna waste time to set all my bookmarks, history and configs like 100mbps half duplex, xrander etc. i really dont want to go through all that. I use liunx just so i can get things done-mostly study and abit of python learning. 
so what i mean by HDD as is are those data and config files- let me explain, idk the technical term for this caz i am very new, not even an year passed since i main linux, and windows for gaming only ofc.

https://www.distrotube.com/blog/move-your-home-folder-to-second-drive/ . If i am not mistaken, your /home partition is where your data to whatever software you install resides. Now say if you want to move to a larger HDD, you can simply rsync your whole /home partition (doesnt matter where it is on- mine was in a external HDD) to a new HDD. Then simply modify the script using vim or Vi to make the OS boot with the new HDD as its /home partition. This does not require you to reinstall or even shutdown your pc (but after you make the modify you need to restart- once !!). Everything down to where you hid your p*rn stays as is and the machine will run as if nothing ever happened. I did this 2 twice, pretty easy once you read the article and video made by the same person.

So this is what i mean, i just want to do anything new nor can i spend hours on this caz i have to study and the exams in 4 months.

 

I mean yes, this is why you can put /home on a different partition  or drive, so that you can update or even reinstall the distro and system stuff without touching your files. However you said yourself that rsync won't copy, because of the bad sectors so you really don't have an option. ddrescue seems to have an option to not try more than N times if it encounters an error, so that way you can prevent it trying for half an hour on a tiny file.

 

A few hours now copying files on a 4 month timescale shouldn't be much of a problem. It might even be faster to just reinstall whatever software you need when you need it, copy over the important stuff and worry about the rest after the exam. Given the fact that your home is damaged by the bad sectors it may not even be a smart idea to plainly copy it, as files may be corrupt and may not work as expected after copying if they can't be repaired.

[TorC]

48 minutes ago, Joe Jackman said:

the bad sectors is like 2002 out of idk million ? and ya i can always use my pop os live cd. whats special about puppy?

 

About Puppy

It runs as root, so it's best to be offline for file management.

Very versatile.  The latest is based on 20.04 LTS.  Not for everyone, but for me, it's fun!

Lots of software in a small package.

Try it !

 

Another possible help could be Clonezilla Live and choose the "interact to correct found errors" (or something like that) Option when backing up your hard drive in the compressed format it uses.  I have found it helpful in the past for such a situation.