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ddrescue clone failing hard drive

Linux Systems Guides
  • lime-itL

    Clone hard drive with ddrescue

    Testing a hard drive for failure via smartmontools

    Install smartmontools if not already present: (debian)

    apt-get install smartmontools

    Locate specific hard drives currently installed:

    lsblk

    In this case I choose device ‘sda’

    smartctl --all /dev/sda -q errorsonly

    Example of failing hard drive: smart-failure.png

    Preparing a used hard drive for cloning

    Clearing existing partitions from destination hard drive:

    In this case the destination drive is defined as sdc:

    I’ll use fdisk to clear all existing partitions:

    fdisk /dev/sdc Then print partition existing on sdc by typing the letter p

    p

    fdisk.png

    The above image shows some detail on the destination drive, including on FreeBSD partition named /dev/sdc4

    Since there is only one partition on the destination drive, we simply need to type the letter d at the fdisk command prompt:

    d

    fdisk-delete.png

    If there are more existing partitions on the destination drive, we are presented with them, and numbers to go along, we select which partition via numbers what we delete (in this case everything)

    fdisk-multiple-partitions.png

    Once we’ve removed the partitions, we type the letter w to write the changes, (actually delete the partitions)

    I type the letter p once again to make sure no partitions are still on the disk and then the letter w to write the changes:

    fdisk-write.png

    Using ddrescue to clone the hard drive:

    !Insure your drive letters are correct!

    The command I use to simplify the procedure including reading the damaged drive and putting as little pressure on it as we can manage, while getting as much data as we can, are as follows:

    Insure existing, or damaged hard drive first, and destination hard drive second (In other terms input file first and output file second)

    ddrescue -f -n /dev/sda /dev/sdc /root/recovery.log

    From https://linux.die.net/man/1/ddrescue

    -f, --force overwrite output device or partition

    -n, --no-split do not try to split or retry failed blocks

    We set a log file, which ddrescue can read later if for any reason the proceedure fails in the middle. Or also if we do not get as close to a 100% success rate when finished, the log file will set ddrescue to only attempt to get failed blocks on additional runs.

    ddrescue.png

    In this case 100% of the data was recovered, and transferred to the new hard drive:

    ddrescue-complete.png

    I run lsblk once again to check partitions have been transferred: ddrescue-new-partitions.png

    I then restart the machine:

    shutdown -r now

    After a restart, the journal will be recovered as well as other routine scripts run. I remove other old, damaged hard drives during the restart just before the BIOS kicks up.

    Again after a restart I run :

    lsblk

    ddrescue-new-harddrive.png

    Fin!

    Note This local server is a test environment running ProxMox. Everything running as it should after the clone.

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  • lime-itL

    Again running smartctl after all is said and done:

    smartctl --all /dev/sda

    ddrescue-smartctl-after-rescue.png ddrescue-smartctl-2.png

    Yet an old drive in itself, I run the wheels off of them, and monitor regularly as anyone should.

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FreeBSD Notes
  • rickR

    Locate hard drive and get information

    ls -l /sys/block | grep sd.

    Output:

    lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jun 22 06:28 sda -> ../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2/ata1/host0/target0:0:0/0:0:0:0/block/sda lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jun 22 06:28 sdb -> ../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2/ata2/host1/target1:0:0/1:0:0:0/block/sdb lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jun 22 06:28 sdc -> ../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2/ata3/host2/target2:0:0/2:0:0:0/block/sdc lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Jun 22 06:28 sdd -> ../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1f.2/ata4/host3/target3:0:0/3:0:0:0/block/sdd

    Or for a more detailed view

    strace -e trace=open lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 3.6T 0 disk ├─data--2-data--2_tmeta 252:3 0 15.9G 0 lvm │ └─data--2-data--2-tpool 252:9 0 3.6T 0 lvm │ ├─data--2-data--2 252:10 0 3.6T 1 lvm │ ├─data--2-vm--101--disk--0 252:11 0 8G 0 lvm │ ├─data--2-vm--103--disk--0 252:12 0 32G 0 lvm │ ├─data--2-vm--107--disk--0 252:13 0 500G 0 lvm │ └─data--2-vm--108--disk--0 252:20 0 100G 0 lvm └─data--2-data--2_tdata 252:6 0 3.6T 0 lvm └─data--2-data--2-tpool 252:9 0 3.6T 0 lvm ├─data--2-data--2 252:10 0 3.6T 1 lvm ├─data--2-vm--101--disk--0 252:11 0 8G 0 lvm ├─data--2-vm--103--disk--0 252:12 0 32G 0 lvm ├─data--2-vm--107--disk--0 252:13 0 500G 0 lvm └─data--2-vm--108--disk--0 252:20 0 100G 0 lvm sdb 8:16 0 698.6G 0 disk └─sdb1 8:17 0 698.6G 0 part /mnt/pve/backups sdc 8:32 0 3.6T 0 disk ├─vm--data-vm--data_tmeta 252:4 0 15.9G 0 lvm │ └─vm--data-vm--data-tpool 252:14 0 3.6T 0 lvm │ ├─vm--data-vm--data 252:15 0 3.6T 1 lvm │ ├─vm--data-vm--100--disk--0 252:16 0 270G 0 lvm │ ├─vm--data-vm--102--disk--0 252:17 0 100G 0 lvm │ ├─vm--data-vm--104--disk--0 252:18 0 25G 0 lvm │ └─vm--data-vm--106--disk--0 252:19 0 32G 0 lvm └─vm--data-vm--data_tdata 252:7 0 3.6T 0 lvm └─vm--data-vm--data-tpool 252:14 0 3.6T 0 lvm ├─vm--data-vm--data 252:15 0 3.6T 1 lvm ├─vm--data-vm--100--disk--0 252:16 0 270G 0 lvm ├─vm--data-vm--102--disk--0 252:17 0 100G 0 lvm ├─vm--data-vm--104--disk--0 252:18 0 25G 0 lvm └─vm--data-vm--106--disk--0 252:19 0 32G 0 lvm sdd 8:48 0 931.5G 0 disk ├─sdd1 8:49 0 1007K 0 part ├─sdd2 8:50 0 1G 0 part └─sdd3 8:51 0 930.5G 0 part ├─pve-swap 252:0 0 8G 0 lvm [SWAP] ├─pve-root 252:1 0 96G 0 lvm / ├─pve-data_tmeta 252:2 0 8.1G 0 lvm │ └─pve-data 252:8 0 794.3G 0 lvm └─pve-data_tdata 252:5 0 794.3G 0 lvm └─pve-data 252:8 0 794.3G 0 lvm +++ exited with 0 +++ cat /proc/partitions major minor #blocks name 8 0 3907018584 sda 8 16 732574584 sdb 8 17 732572672 sdb1 8 32 3907018584 sdc 8 48 976762584 sdd 8 49 1007 sdd1 8 50 1048576 sdd2 8 51 975712967 sdd3 252 0 8388608 dm-0 252 1 100663296 dm-1 252 2 8495104 dm-2 252 3 16650240 dm-3 252 4 16650240 dm-4 252 6 3873329152 dm-6 252 5 832888832 dm-5 252 7 3873329152 dm-7 252 8 832888832 dm-8 252 9 3873329152 dm-9 252 10 3873329152 dm-10 252 11 8388608 dm-11 252 12 33554432 dm-12 252 13 524288000 dm-13 252 14 3873329152 dm-14 252 15 3873329152 dm-15 252 16 283115520 dm-16 252 17 104857600 dm-17 252 18 26214400 dm-18 252 19 33554432 dm-19 252 20 104857600 dm-20

    Locate drive by serial and model information

    hdparm -i /dev/sda /dev/sda: Model=WDC WD4000FYYZ-05UL1B0, FwRev=00.0NS05, SerialNo=WD-WCC132262513 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=unknown, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=off CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=7814037168 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6 AdvancedPM=yes: unknown setting WriteCache=disabled Drive conforms to: Unspecified: ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6,7 * signifies the current active mode
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  • rickR

    Screen recording can use webm as their format, it can be more simple to use a gif to embed into a website or forum, than adding scripts to host different video format.

    In this case I grabbed a screen record of the progress for writing zeros to a hard drive with dd

    Use ffmpeg to convert webm to gif:

    First create a pallet:

    Move into the directory which the webm is located, or type in the path

    Where ‘dd.webm’ is the screen recording

    ffmpeg -y -i dd.webm -vf palettegen palette.png

    Output:

    dd-ffmpeg.png

    Then convert the webm to gif:

    ffmpeg -y -i dd.webm -i palette.png -filter_complex paletteuse -r 10 dd.gif

    dd-webm-2.png

    This is what I ended up with, looks like any image of any alien on the interwebz, as if shot through a potato, some tweaking of the command is in my future. None the less.

    dd.gif

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  • rickR

    Write zeros to all sectors

    Use the command ‘lsblk’ to find the drive you wish to erase

    I’m using ‘dd’ to erase things

    In this case I’m torching sdb

    Only use status=progress if you care it’s not necessary

    dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=12M status=progress

    dd.gif

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  • rickR

    Remove old kernel images that are cluttering the system

    zstd-no-space-error.png

    Most of these errors are due to low or not enough space left in the root partition.

    If you are using a Debian flavor:

    sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

    zstd-error.png

    Inform grub whenever an old kernel is removed:

    update grub

    update-grub.png

    Remove the un-used kernel config files:

    These will be the files pre cursed as ‘rc’ where installed kernels use ‘ii’

    … As well as files no longer used or required due to dependencies

    This command will detect, print, and remove left over cruft from previously installed packages or scripts, that have been removed or updated.

    sudo dpkg --purge $(dpkg -l | awk '/^rc/{print $2}')

    purge.png

    You can re-run the following to view the installed kernel(s):

    dpkg --list | grep linux-image

    installed-kernels.png

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  • rickR

    To list all files in current directory including dot files (hidden files or directories), as well as print permissions :

    ls -la
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