Good luck. I understand how losing important files can be a big problem. I think you won't regret having a bootable grml medium, though. I keep my grml USB stick handy. Also, I keep a grml .sio file around, just in case. It's nice to come up in a fully accessible environment where all the Linux tools can be at hand. Maybe I need to learn something about the tool. But, it's the tool I'm fussing with, not the accessibility. Janina Anders Holmberg writes: > Hi! > I will give grml a try as the ntfs partition on my western digital elements usb drive has gone south. > I can't get it back with testdisk so maybe some other tools might work. > Thats why i was asking about spinrite. > I really don't want to pay 10000 swedish crowns for getting a ntfs partition back. > Though the files on that partition is really important to me. > /A > 30 dec 2013 kl. 14:59 skrev Janina Sajka <janina@xxxxxxxxxxx>: > > > I have no beef with SpinWrite. I see no reason why we can't have > > multiple tools for particular tasks. However, the discussion was about > > the accessibility of the tool, a particular concern on this list, > > naturally enough. On that score, I think there's little question > > remaining that the native Linux tools prove the function required > > without presenting an accessibility challenge. > > > > Janina > > > > eric oyen writes: > >> spin rite is a nice tool for those who are computer users only. Us power users tend to get a bit more down and dirty with the hardware level codes than most. > >> > >> Badblocks has a couple of nice options that will allow you to mark off bad areas and write that info into a file that can also be used by mkfs when you go to make a new filesystem. These are utilities included by default in any Linux distribution. Also, all these utilities are command line and are quite accessible without the need of a special interface driver on a desktop. These are also available as command line utilities on just about every OS X machine around. Can't say that for windows. > >> > >> -eric > >> > >> On Dec 27, 2013, at 6:08 PM, Janina Sajka wrote: > >> > >>> > >>> Well, I still don't see that it does anything special. For instance, if > >>> you're worried about bad blocks, the command badblocks is perfectly > >>> useful for just that. > >>> > >>> Janina > >>> > >>> Tim Chase writes: > >>>> On December 27, 2013, Janina Sajka wrote: > >>>>> use standard Linux tools, e.g. e2fsck and the > >>>>> smartmontools like smartctl. > >>>>> > >>>>> This approach is fully accessible. > >>>>> > >>>>> So, what does spinWrite give you that you can't do per the above? > >>>> > >>>> Spinrite operates on the drive at the hardware level rather than > >>>> filesystem-level (checked by e2fsck) or partition level. I'm less > >>>> familiar with smartctl, but it appears to offer some overlap in > >>>> functionality with Spinrite. > >>>> > >>>> In a way, the basic first level scan could possibly be replicated with > >>>> "dd", reading the entire drive (/dev/sda) rather than a partition > >>>> (/dev/sda1) and dumping the results to /dev/null which would force > >>>> the drive to read every byte. This triggers the drive to look at > >>>> every byte, check the drive's integrity at that location, and let > >>>> the hardware move the data in the event that spot is getting hard to > >>>> read. Based on the manpage, it sounds like smartctl might offer > >>>> some similar functionality. Beyond that, I believe that Spinrite does > >>>> more aggressive scans that will persist in an attempt to read data, > >>>> even when the drive returns hardware errors, and can actively talk to > >>>> the drive controller to move that data elsewhere in the event it had > >>>> trouble, then mark the blocks as bad at the hardware level. > >>>> > >>>> Again, I'm only taking a stab in the dark based on the tidbits I've > >>>> picked up on the SN podcast (which is well worth a listen, IMHO). > >>>> I've never used the product, but at least the guy who wrote it seems > >>>> to know what he's doing and make difficult technological topics > >>>> accessible. > >>>> > >>>> -tim > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> Blinux-list mailing list > >>>> Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > >>>> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > >>> > >>> -- > >>> > >>> Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 > >>> sip:janina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >>> Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx > >>> > >>> Linux Foundation Fellow > >>> Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org > >>> > >>> The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) > >>> Chair, Protocols & Formats http://www.w3.org/wai/pf > >>> Indie UI http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/ > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Blinux-list mailing list > >>> Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > >>> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Blinux-list mailing list > >> Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > >> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > > > -- > > > > Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 > > sip:janina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx > > > > Linux Foundation Fellow > > Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org > > > > The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) > > Chair, Protocols & Formats http://www.w3.org/wai/pf > > Indie UI http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list mailing list > > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list -- Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 sip:janina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Linux Foundation Fellow Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Chair, Protocols & Formats http://www.w3.org/wai/pf Indie UI http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/ _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list