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Perhaps I should have used the command dd_rescue instead?

Should I buy Disk Warrior to help fix any problem files that won't open?
At this point I suggest waiting until you can confirm if you have any problem files. If you do, then DiskWarrior's worth a try.
 
I think I do have some problem files, as dragging and dropping would often give me error messages telling me that some files cannot be copied because they contained errors.

Once I get all of these files copied though, how will I go about transferring all the programs seamlessly over to my MacBook? I've heard that disk migration doesn't always play nice when going from Power-PC based machines to Intel Based Machines.

And Yes...thanks to all these problems I've had in the past week, my forum status finally reaches 6502 after four years of being a member! At least something good has come out of these problems. :confused::D:confused: (half a smile I guess?)
 
I think I do have some problem files, as dragging and dropping would often give me error messages telling me that some files cannot be copied because they contained errors.

Once I get all of these files copied though, how will I go about transferring all the programs seamlessly over to my MacBook? I've heard that disk migration doesn't always play nice when going from Power-PC based machines to Intel Based Machines.

And Yes...thanks to all these problems I've had in the past week, my forum status finally reaches 6502 after four years of being a member! At least something good has come out of these problems. :confused::D:confused: (half a smile I guess?)
Like I said in an earlier post, that's going to be easier said than done... I hope you keep an archive of license numbers and installers, like I do - makes this job a LOT easier.
 
Gr... so I tried it yesterday using USB 2.0 (since USB seemed to be more reliable on that device) and it was transferring around 2gb/hour. Way to slow to transfer about 80gb. Today I managed to get the hard drive connected to the PB G4 via FW 400 after several attemtps. It was transferring at about 8-10gb per hour, but now it has stalled around 38.13gb transferred and the terminal keeps reading input/output error. The external hard drive keeps make this turning over sound. It's hard to describe. It's not clicking per say, but kind of the same sound a HD makes when you're loading something. It kind of goes *chut chut*....... *chut churt*.....

Now after doing this for about 15 minutes, my transfer is up to 38.14gb.

Should I abort the whole process and enter in another command in terminal. Can disk warrior fix this?
 
Gr... so I tried it yesterday using USB 2.0 (since USB seemed to be more reliable on that device) and it was transferring around 2gb/hour. Way to slow to transfer about 80gb. Today I managed to get the hard drive connected to the PB G4 via FW 400 after several attemtps. It was transferring at about 8-10gb per hour, but now it has stalled around 38.13gb transferred and the terminal keeps reading input/output error. The external hard drive keeps make this turning over sound. It's hard to describe. It's not clicking per say, but kind of the same sound a HD makes when you're loading something. It kind of goes *chut chut*....... *chut churt*.....

Now after doing this for about 15 minutes, my transfer is up to 38.14gb.

Should I abort the whole process and enter in another command in terminal. Can disk warrior fix this?
Sounds like your drive is failing. DiskWarrior probably will NOT be able to fix it, unfortunately... this sounds like a hardware issue.
 
Sounds like your drive is failing. DiskWarrior probably will NOT be able to fix it, unfortunately... this sounds like a hardware issue.

SOB. Any suggestions as to what I can do to just get the info off? I cringe to think how much a HD restoration service would cost.

FYI, it seems as though there have been lots of horror stories with WD My Book HD's and Mac.
 
I've contacted a HD recovery service to get a quote. I may try the freezer trick. I've copied about half of the hard drive so far... I just need to get the other half. Does anyone think I'll be able to transfer any of my apps with just half of the disk img? Will it even open?
 
So I started transferring at a normal rate again, but then it stalled out around 41.8gb transfered. Do you think it's just hitting speed bumps in some bad files?
 
So I started transferring at a normal rate again, but then it stalled out around 41.8gb transfered. Do you think it's just hitting speed bumps in some bad files?
I suspect that it's not bad files that are causing the problem... since you said the drive is making unusual noises, I suspect that it's having trouble physically accessing that area. There's really not much you can do about it, unfortunately.
 
I would say the sound isn't that unusual.. it's the sound a HD makes when it's "thinking" or loading or whatever. The only exception is that there is a rhythm to it. It's up to 41.83 right now and I'm hoping that it gets a second wind and is able to get the rest of the material transferred.

If it doesn't, do you think there is a chance that some of the application will be able to be transferred to my new computer? I have no idea what order the material is being copied in, nor if the disk img will be able to open if only part of the files are transferred.
 
I would say the sound isn't that unusual.. it's the sound a HD makes when it's "thinking" or loading or whatever. The only exception is that there is a rhythm to it. It's up to 41.83 right now and I'm hoping that it gets a second wind and is able to get the rest of the material transferred.

If it doesn't, do you think there is a chance that some of the application will be able to be transferred to my new computer? I have no idea what order the material is being copied in, nor if the disk img will be able to open if only part of the files are transferred.
I honestly don't know whether the image file will open if it's only a partial image. There's definitely a chance that you will be able to save some of your data, but I couldn't tell you how high (or low) it is. Sorry. :(
 
So my last effort before I stick this thing in the freezer is to run this process in reverse. I'm in terminal and I can't get it rolling though. I'm replacing the dd if= at the beginning of the command with dd_rescue=. Is this the right way to go? If so, why isn't it working?


Also, should I try and delete some "non-essential" items from the clone so I'd have less to transfer? Would the classic applications folder be ok to delete? Really, all I want to do is to be able to migrate my apps!
 
So my last effort before I stick this thing in the freezer is to run this process in reverse. I'm in terminal and I can't get it rolling though. I'm replacing the dd if= at the beginning of the command with dd_rescue=. Is this the right way to go? If so, why isn't it working?


Also, should I try and delete some "non-essential" items from the clone so I'd have less to transfer? Would the classic applications folder be ok to delete? Really, all I want to do is to be able to migrate my apps!

I would actually use ddrescue. I've had tremendous success with it. In fact, I'm using it right now.

ddrescue -v /dev/rdisk10s2 ipod.img logfile

The cool thing about ddrescue is, if you use a logfile (like above), you can quit out and restart later. This allows you to toss the drive back into the freezer for a few more hours as need (if needed). It will also attempt to recover as much as possible the first pass, and then go back through and try "extra hard". Perhaps the files you really need are in the good area. You get your files in hours, not days. Bonus!

The other cool trick (doesn't help you now...but), if you have two copies of the same CD or DVD, you can recover what's good off of one, and continue with the other copy. They have to be the same pressing, but I actually used that once.

Best of luck (is that break a ribbon cable?),
Hat
 
I would actually use ddrescue. I've had tremendous success with it. In fact, I'm using it right now.

ddrescue -v /dev/rdisk10s2 ipod.img logfile

The cool thing about ddrescue is, if you use a logfile (like above), you can quit out and restart later. This allows you to toss the drive back into the freezer for a few more hours as need (if needed). It will also attempt to recover as much as possible the first pass, and then go back through and try "extra hard". Perhaps the files you really need are in the good area. You get your files in hours, not days. Bonus!

The other cool trick (doesn't help you now...but), if you have two copies of the same CD or DVD, you can recover what's good off of one, and continue with the other copy. They have to be the same pressing, but I actually used that once.

Best of luck (is that break a ribbon cable?),
Hat
Great. I'll give it a try. So should I just type ddrescue instead of [dd_rescue] and stay with the rest of my commands? Should I instead type ddrescue -v/dev/rdisk... and simply insert the name of the disk I want to save? How do I quit out and start up again? This will be very helpful because sometimes my parents need to use their PB G4 that I am using solely to rescue my disk. Thanks!
 
Hands on examples of ddrescue.

Great. I'll give it a try. So should I just type ddrescue instead of [dd_rescue] and stay with the rest of my commands? Should I instead type ddrescue -v/dev/rdisk... and simply insert the name of the disk I want to save? How do I quit out and start up again? This will be very helpful because sometimes my parents need to use their PB G4 that I am using solely to rescue my disk. Thanks!

Start by making yourself a workspace.
Code:
cd ~
mkdir recovery
cd recovery

Great. You're in a recovery folder in your home directory. Next, use that same syntax....but look at the bit about sudo below first!

Code:
ddrescue /dev/disk10s2 ipod.img logfile

Which is ddrescue, followed by the partition or drive you are recovering (drive would be disk10, the partition would include the slice number like disk10s2), followed by the name of your image file (I used ipod.img), followed by the name of your logfile you want to use (call it anything, but remember the name).

It'll start and look like this.

Code:
Press Ctrl-C to interrupt
Initial status (read from logfile)
rescued:    94634 kB,  errsize:       0 B,  errors:       0
Current status
rescued:    68489 MB,  errsize:  59685 kB,  current rate:     1542 B/s
   ipos:    68548 MB,   errors:     846,    average rate:     815 kB/s
   opos:    68548 MB
Copying data...

Well, you'll see a bunch of zeros, but you get the idea. As the proggie says, CTRL+C quits the program (this is true of many programs in terminal).

As long as you specify the same logfile and image file, you CAN quit out and start up later without any problems (as long as you haven't opened the partition read-write and messed with it).

A note about the /dev/ name. You can use disk or rdisk. rdisk will probably be a bit faster when you are reading the bad parts of the disk. It'll probably give you back control of your computer faster when you hit CTRL+C. If you use disk, the good portions will read faster, but you'll probably wait longer on the bad sections, especially if you hit CTRL+C. You can mix and match if you wish, or you can KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) and just use disk. Your call really.

I'll CTRL+C my process now and restart it just for "fun". It's taking a little bit, because I used disk. Ok, that took about 2 minutes for it to time out and die. Using disk means you are allowing the OS to buffer stuff, whereas rdisk is direct unbuffered. Mac OS X gets a little upset when it reads bad data using disk, hence the 2 minute delay, but disk is faster for good data.

So, I'll start it all back up again.

Code:
hats-mac-pro:imagefile root# ddrescue /dev/rdisk10s2 ipod.img logfile


Press Ctrl-C to interrupt
Initial status (read from logfile)
rescued:    68513 MB,  errsize:  11370 MB,  errors:     853
Current status
rescued:    68513 MB,  errsize:  11370 MB,  current rate:        0 B/s
   ipos:    68638 MB,   errors:     853,    average rate:        0 B/s
   opos:    68638 MB
Splitting error areas...

Shoot. I just remembered one point. You might need to have root access to read the /dev/ device properly. So, after you create the directory, you'll need to sudo and go back to that directory. Since you will be root at the point, the "cd ~" needs to become "cd myusername~" where myusername is your username.

Code:
hats-mac-pro:Sam's iPod hat$ whoami
hat

Ok, I'm hat (but you probably aren't...use your username).

Code:
hats-mac-pro:Sam's iPod hat$ sudo -i
Password:
hats-mac-pro:~ root# pwd
/var/root
hats-mac-pro:~ root# cd ~hat/recovery

pwd is "print working directory".... You don't have to do that, I just did it to illustrated that "sudo -i" changes your current folder.

That should be it. Happy recovering! :apple:

-HAT!
 
Ok... I'm slowly working this out. I'm a bit confused at this point so I'll share what I have so far:
Code:
ast login: Sun May 11 10:13:13 on ttys000
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd ~
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ mkdir recovery
mkdir: recovery: File exists
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd recovery
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery aaronapter$ sudo -i
Password:
aaron-apters-macbook:~ root# ddrescue /dev/disk1s3 G5.img logfile
-sh: ddrescue: command not found

Am I right so far? Why isn't ddrescue recognized? Do I have to install something?
 
ddrescue is not a standard tool that comes with Mac OS X, its 3rd party and has to be installed. I'm not sure that any prebuilt binaries for Mac OS X are readily available, but the easiest way to get it installed is through either Fink or MacPorts (Formerly Darwin Ports). You need to have the Developer Tools installed. I recommend using MacPorts, and once you've installed the package just type:

sudo port install ddrescue

MacPorts will automatically download, patch, build, and install ddrescue.

I would try the standard dd command again, only this time let it run all night long. Copying a drive with bad sectors takes a lot of time (hours, sometimes even longer than a day); every time you try to read a single bad block (4 kilobytes), the drive is going to spend time reading and re-reading in an attempt to recover data. Odds are it will fail and just return an I/O Error, but there is a slim chance that the data will be read.
 
ddrescue is not a standard tool that comes with Mac OS X, its 3rd party and has to be installed. I'm not sure that any prebuilt binaries for Mac OS X are readily available, but the easiest way to get it installed is through either Fink or MacPorts (Formerly Darwin Ports). You need to have the Developer Tools installed. I recommend using MacPorts, and once you've installed the package just type:

sudo port install ddrescue

MacPorts will automatically download, patch, build, and install ddrescue.

I would try the standard dd command again, only this time let it run all night long. Copying a drive with bad sectors takes a lot of time (hours, sometimes even longer than a day); every time you try to read a single bad block (4 kilobytes), the drive is going to spend time reading and re-reading in an attempt to recover data. Odds are it will fail and just return an I/O Error, but there is a slim chance that the data will be read.
So are the developer tools the package that is downloadable here?:
http://developer.apple.com/tools/download/

Yikes. That's a lot of material to download.

I already have the MacPorts downloaded, but I guess I need to install the developer tools. How do I install both the Tools and MacPorts?

EDIT: Nevermind. That installation was painless. I'm trying this whole process again. Here is what I have so far:
Code:
Last login: Sun May 11 11:37:08 on ttys000
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$  cd~
-bash: cd~: command not found
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd~
-bash: cd~: command not found
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$  cd
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ mkdir recovery
mkdir: recovery: File exists
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd recovery
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery aaronapter$ whoami
aaronapter
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery aaronapter$ sudo -i
aaron-apters-macbook:~ root# pwd
/var/root
aaron-apters-macbook:~ root# cd ~aaronapter/recovery
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery root# ddrescue /dev/desk1s3 G5.img logfile
ddrescue: cannot open input file: No such file or directory
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery root#

So what am I doing right/wrong?
 
So are the developer tools the package that is downloadable here?:
http://developer.apple.com/tools/download/

Yikes. That's a lot of material to download.

I already have the MacPorts downloaded, but I guess I need to install the developer tools. How do I install both the Tools and MacPorts?

EDIT: Nevermind. That installation was painless. I'm trying this whole process again. Here is what I have so far:
Code:
Last login: Sun May 11 11:37:08 on ttys000
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$  cd~
-bash: cd~: command not found
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd~
-bash: cd~: command not found
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$  cd
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ mkdir recovery
mkdir: recovery: File exists
aaron-apters-macbook:~ aaronapter$ cd recovery
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery aaronapter$ whoami
aaronapter
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery aaronapter$ sudo -i
aaron-apters-macbook:~ root# pwd
/var/root
aaron-apters-macbook:~ root# cd ~aaronapter/recovery
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery root# ddrescue /dev/desk1s3 G5.img logfile
ddrescue: cannot open input file: No such file or directory
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery root#
So what am I doing right/wrong?

Simple error, you misspelled "disk" as "desk".
 
Simple error, you misspelled "disk" as "desk".
Yea, I'm a total idiot.

So here's what I got once I spelled everything correctly:
Code:
aaron-apters-macbook:recovery root# ddrescue /dev/disk1s3 G5.img logfile
ddrescue: cannot open input file: Resource busy

So do I need to unmount something? I have the Time Capsule connect to my MB via ethernet and the external HD with the bootable G5 partition that I'm trying to recover connected to the TC via USB.

Is that why I'm getting the resource busy message?

If I connect the external HD to my MB, it never mounts fully. It will recognize only one of three partitions and won't even read the data on the partition it does recognize.
 
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