Transferring image-files on a process (DDrescue-GUI)

Hi,

Okay, thank you that makes much more sense :)

Right, so you're using the latest version of DDRescue-GUI then which is good.

So just to make sure I completely understand this (I don't want to give you bad advice):

You have a damaged 300GB HDD which contains 210GB of useful data,
and you are trying to recover the data to two other drives (one is 150GB, and the other is 80GB).

Your recovery of 150GB data from the damaged drive to the 150GB drive is now complete,
so you want to know if you can recover the remaining 60GB data to the 80GB drive, then piece the data from the two destination drives into one larger drive?

So if I understood all of that right then that can be done, but it wouldn't be easy :(

It would be easier to buy a drive of 300GB capacity or higher, and clone the data on the bad drive directly to the new drive,
but as you said, it may damage your data, or kill the bad drive.

So really, the important bit is how badly damaged the bad drive is. If it took ages (say, more than 2 or 3 hours) to recover the first 150GB starting from scratch might be a problem (drive overheating etc), but if it was quick you're probably fine :)

The only thing I didn't understand was this: "(which means i will not change the input/output devices, which is a problem for ddr-gui)"

In that scenario, you would be changing the input/output devices (I think), but either way this shouldn't be a problem for DDRescue-GUI, although you may lose data if you didn't use a logfile, so perhaps I've misunderstood you there?

Anyway, whatever you decide to do, I'll try to give you tech support.

Hope this helps,
Hamish

Oh, I forgot something:

Yep, it's absolutely fine to stop and then start with the same log file (and the same drives) again later, ddrescue will pick up where it left off, which is one of the things that makes it so brilliant :)

Hamish

Ohh, thanks again for the answer

But, actually i`m still with a doubt
Because, as i said, the situation has changed ...

So, considering that i already have recovered 150gb, i will not be able to transfer that data to the 80gb, so actually i intend to take another hdd bigger than 210gb borrowed from a friend. But, yes, "i think" (almost sure) my question is if is it possible "to piece the data from the two destination drives into one larger drive", as you said.

About your questions:

1 - the recovery took 1/2 days, so it is probably very damaged
2 - i thought that i need to stay with the same input/output in the whole process (actually i saw something similar to that in another question but actually i wasn`t paying attention about the software version (ddrescue-gui, or maybe was on ddrescue, or maybe i just misunderstood that, anyway, don`t remember). But, so, is it possible to change the output? I just need to use a logfile? Can you tell me if this logfile need to be the same? (or need to be different?)

Considering that, i will change the output in this finally part of the process to the bigger hdd and then just tranfer the 150gb already recovered to that and finally merge them, or, if it would be more simple (as you said, that wouldn`t be easy), i could first transfer this recovered data to the bigger hdd and then finish the process with the 150gb hdd (without change the output), and finally also transfer that data to the the bigger hdd (i don`t know if it was your last question). What would you recommend me?

By the way, do you know where can i find explanation about how to piece them?
Thanks again! I'm really grateful about your help man

Hi,

Okay, I just realized I got something wrong here: ddrescue copies ALL the data on a hard drive, not just the data that's in use, which will (almost definitely) mean that the 150GB you recovered also contained some empty space, and is actually less than 150GB helpful data, and the same will go for the 210GB total of needed data. It's safer to copy the whole 300GB, because you can then be sure you've got all of your data.

Right, that sounds like you won't want to start from scratch. It is possible to change the output file/device, with the same log file, but because of the above, you probably won't be able to piece that backup together afterwards. You'd also have to be careful that you get the settings right, and preferably make a backup of your log file. (Well, you actually can piece the backup together again, but it would be beyond my ability to help, fraught with potential problems, and it would be easier to follow the below instructions).

So, having considered that, here's what I suggest:

If you can, buy an HDD that is at least 300GB, or preferably a bit larger than that (just in case there's a slight size mismatch).

You can use DDRescue-GUI to copy the data you recovered to the 150GB drive to the new drive (but make sure you use a different log file, or no log file at all, definitely not the one you used before).

After doing that, run DDRescue-GUI with the damaged drive as the source, the new 300GB or larger drive as the destination, and the original log file (used when recovering data to the 150GB drive).

This should ensure your data is completely intact (or at least as intact as it will be) without you having to start from scratch :)

You're welcome, and hopefully this clears things up a bit,
Hamish

Hi, thanks again

So, i`ll try the second approach:

- copy the 150gb to the new hdd (>300gb), with a different logfile
- finish the initial process (from the damaged drive) with the new hdd and the first logfile

I`ll give you some feedback later (probably next week)
See you