[SOLVED] Backuping The Data in the Hard disk

1991sudarshan · 04-30-2011, 11:25 PM

Hello,

My hard isk is failing and I amnot able to boot into the system! Currently I have logged into the system uing Live CD! Can anyone pls tell me the way to compress and back up the data in my hard disk in an efficient way! Help needed Urgently

Thank you

corp769 · 05-01-2011, 12:05 AM

Hello,

First and foremost, saying "urgently" is considered rude on these forums. Also, please spell check your words, and spell them out too (abbreviations like pls).

Aside from that though, I would look at your dmesg and/or /var/log/messages to see if your hard drive is being detected at all. If it is, use the mount command to mount the device to whatever folder you decide (ie. /media/hd1). You will need to mkdir a directory so you can mount it. From there, you can access your drive. Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Josj

catkin · 05-01-2011, 12:08 AM

Ideally you would first image the HDD to another, to preserve as much as possible. For this you need an HDD at least the same size as the failing one. Use dd to copy from the whole HDD device file (for example /dev/sda) to the new whole HDD device file (for example /dev/sdb). Be very sure the target is the new disk! Errors are likely when copying from a failing disk so it is essential to use dd's conv=sync,noerror parameters. Then you can try a file-level copy (and compress -- but why make life complicated?) on the new HDD, confident that your actions are not further degrading the failing disk.

1991sudarshan · 05-01-2011, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corp769

Hello,

First and foremost, saying "urgently" is considered rude on these forums. Also, please spell check your words, and spell them out too (abbreviations like pls).

Aside from that though, I would look at your dmesg and/or /var/log/messages to see if your hard drive is being detected at all. If it is, use the mount command to mount the device to whatever folder you decide (ie. /media/hd1). You will need to mkdir a directory so you can mount it. From there, you can access your drive. Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Josj

I am sorry about spelling mistake, I was in such a hurry that I did not notice them and also sorry about the rude word "Urgently". My hard disk partitions are being detected and I am able to mount and make changes to the data! My question is, how can i compress the huge amount of data efficiently? And I have also included the output of /var/log/mesages in a text file!

1991sudarshan · 05-01-2011, 01:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catkin

Ideally you would first image the HDD to another, to preserve as much as possible. For this you need an HDD at least the same size as the failing one. Use dd to copy from the whole HDD device file (for example /dev/sda) to the new whole HDD device file (for example /dev/sdb). Be very sure the target is the new disk! Errors are likely when copying from a failing disk so it is essential to use dd's conv=sync,noerror parameters. Then you can try a file-level copy (and compress -- but why make life complicated?) on the new HDD, confident that your actions are not further degrading the failing disk.

Is there any way to install the present Kubuntu with other installed softwares in the new HDD? What does HDD cloning mean?

corp769 · 05-01-2011, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1991sudarshan

I am sorry about spelling mistake, I was in such a hurry that I did not notice them and also sorry about the rude word "Urgently". My hard disk partitions are being detected and I am able to mount and make changes to the data! My question is, how can i compress the huge amount of data efficiently? And I have also included the output of /var/log/mesages in a text file!

You can use the tar command, along with bunzip, then copy your compressed file to another storage medium.

catkin · 05-01-2011, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1991sudarshan

Is there any way to install the present Kubuntu with other installed softwares in the new HDD? What does HDD cloning mean?

Cloning is making an identical copy. The dd command on the whole HDD would clone everything -- Master Boot Record, Partition Table, anything above that on the first cylinder (such as GRUB stage 1.5) and the partitions. If the failing HDD is bootable then the clone should also be bootable; simply unplug the failing HDD and boot the computer after cloning with dd.