Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Bill Kenworthy

On 26/03/17 17:24, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 04:50, Bill Kenworthy wrote:

On 26/03/17 15:26, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 03:04, Bill Kenworthy wrote:

On 26/03/17 14:25, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 05:50, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:

Step 1: dd the contents into an image

ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.

step 2: put the sdcard to one side.

step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... try
something else on another image copy



Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.


Hi all,

thanks a lot for all help! :)

Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
Next I will try to mount the sdcard.

What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
(...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
that way...I am no native speaker... :)

Cheers
Meino




Hi,

Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
(fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
Or do I overlook something?

(Background: I dont want to put a sdcard into the bin, if
fdisking & reformatting that beast would gives me back an ok
media...)

Cheers
Meino






The dd gets you the best chance to work on the data before it completely
fails.  In my experience the sdcard will only get worse ending with total
failure - if it hasn't already.

If the dd dump comes up rubbish and cant be recovered, the actual sdcard
will be worse.  You can run "strings" against the image to see if there is
any text in there (or even cat the /dev/sdcard node through strings) to see
if the bits are still there.

I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I suspect
sdcard design means that approach wont work.

BillK





Hi Bill,

I got mixed results: There are three partitions on the sdcard from
which I could fully recover (even mount it directly via loop device)
the first and the third one.

The second one is screwed up.

Running fsch.ext4 against the image it starts with "bad superblock"
and suggests two alternatives.

I started fsch.ext4 again while using -b to define the alternate
superblock and it starts to ask me *zillions of question, which
I all answered with 'yes' in a first attempt (I have a backup of the
image...).
The result was an image, which I could mount again.
But beside 'lost+found' with some small rests of something which
may be files in a previous life nothing was there

Currently it looks to me, that something has totally messed up the fs
there.

What do you think?

Cheers
Meino






Sounds like its toast :(

I have never had a lot of luck with any of the ext file systems - you have
to baby them and they corrupt very easily compared to others.  I try and
avoid them ...

BillK





Hi Bill,

...the SDcard is for my Android tablet, which runs kernel 3.6.x.something 
(Lollipop)
if I remember correctly. With the App Linux Deploy I installed Linux
on another partition of the sdcard and used to chroot into it.

With what filesystem did you made good experiences of, Bill? My GENTOO PC
(with which I am currently writing this email) also uses ext4...and
your last mail makes me nervous...very nervous...

For my tablet I have to use an filesystem, which is supported by and
compiled into the kernel. Unfortunately, there is no alternative
Android build for this tablet...
In this case it is ext4 and vfat...and of that both I think ext4 is
better...

Cheers
Meino




I used to prefer reiserfs ... more robust in some ways, less in others 
... BUT I almost always was able to rescue files or whole filesystems 
with reiserfs, not so with ext*.  These days I prefer btrfs ... again 
not perfect but with OS disks are single and the rest are bcache/ssd 
fronted  btrfs raid10's my main issue is running out of space.


Problems with the ext series were inability to deal with dirvish backup 
(corrupted), running out of inodes, terminal corruption when running out 
of space, silent corruption with hibernation, data loss/corruption on 
abrupt power loss, and it goes on ...



Current sdcards are either vfat for win compatibility (no choice) or 
btrfs (raspberry pi).  Just turned off my older rpi model 1B which is 
ext 4 earlier this morning - been corrupted and reimaged a few times!


File systems seem to be very much YMMV - each use, load and environment 
present a different set of requirements and problems.


BillK




Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Peter Humphrey
On Sunday 26 Mar 2017 20:37:08 Adam Carter wrote:
> I did that already.
> 
> > Gives me a lot of files with unrelated names.
> > Think of your GENTOO box with all names renamed
> > to something like
> > 
> > [index number].[filetype]
> > 
> > . So you got back your data but cannot use
> > it, since the names got lost.
> > 
> > For images this is not a big deal...display them
> > and you know probably how to rename them back
> > to something useful.
> > 
> > But what file is (for example)
> > 
> > -rwxr-xr-x   1 root root   4083 2011-11-22 03:46 file002873.bin
> 
> Does file file002873.bin provide any help?
> 
> And yes, its a real pain to loose the filenames!

Some years ago I had to revive a removable drive that someone had repeatedly 
snatched out of the machine without unmounting it first. I tried photorec 
and pals and had the same impenetrable maze of unhelpful file names as 
Adam's. I know it's not much help, but I eventually found another utility 
that just swept through and put everything back together again, humpty-
dumpty fashion. I wish I could remember what the utility was. Sorry. But it 
is out there somewhere in Google-land.

-- 
Regards
Peter




Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Fabio Scaccabarozzi
Hi tuxic,

That looks like an output from photorec. Generally photorec only reads the
whole disk block by block, when it finds information in the filesystem's
metadata - either inode table or inodes themselves - you're lucky and you
get filenames, otherwise you only get that kind of output. Consider that
all those items might as well be deleted items, so you might be getting
back a lot of cruft.
I never had to use the functionality so I cannot comment on how good it
works, but testdisk allows you to restore partitions by scanning the entire
disk/image searching for superblocks and partition metadata. That might
give you a chance of restoring the superblock of the partition and
salvaging at least some part of the data. See a guide on testdisk's
official website -> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step
Consider that by default ext4 partitions should have superblock backups
spread out at fixed intervals during the filesystem creation, so this
should work better than trying to blindly carve the data out of the
partition.
Before applying fixes to the image file make a backup in case something
gets screwed up :-) Testdisk might detect additional stuff that looks like
partition info, but it's not.

Il giorno dom 26 mar 2017 alle ore 11:37  ha scritto:

> On 03/26 08:10, Adam Carter wrote:
> > > Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
> > >>> Next I will try to mount the sdcard.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > I hope you meant to say "mount the sdcard image". Once ddrescue has done
> > its best, you wont try to use the sdcard again.
> >
> > Also, you probably want to copy the image first, because when you try to
> > fix it you will perform writes, and you dont want to lock yourself out of
> > other recovery options by making potentially damaging writes.
> >
> >
> > > What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
> > >>>
> > >>
> > I'm not sure what you mean here given that you're making an image with
> > ddrescue.
> >
> > Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
> > >> partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
> > >>
> > > the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
> > >> (fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
> > >> Or do I overlook something?
> > >>
> > >
> > If ddrescue can read it cleanly with no retries (in which case it will
> > offer no benefit over dd) then yes, I agree. However, given the cost of a
> > card and the cost of your time and the risk to your data, I wouldnt be
> > using it.
> >
> >
> > > I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I
> > > suspect sdcard design means that approach wont work.
> > >
> >
> > I would just use photorec against a copy of the image. I have done this
> in
> > the past and recovered many files from a ddrescued image of a failing USB
> > drive, however, all the filenames were lost.
>
> Hi,
>
> I copied the image of course and umounted the sdcard as soon as
> possible.
>
> As in my previous posting, as long the recovered files are images,
> the lost of filenames my be annoying...
> But in case of files of a Android system (from which the sdcard
> originates) the lost of filenames is equivaltent to the lost of
> the file itsself...
>
> Cheers
> Meino
>
>
>
>
>


Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Adam Carter
I did that already.

> Gives me a lot of files with unrelated names.
> Think of your GENTOO box with all names renamed
> to something like
>
> [index number].[filetype]
>
> . So you got back your data but cannot use
> it, since the names got lost.
>
> For images this is not a big deal...display them
> and you know probably how to rename them back
> to something useful.
>
> But what file is (for example)
>
> -rwxr-xr-x   1 root root   4083 2011-11-22 03:46 file002873.bin
>

Does file file002873.bin provide any help?

And yes, its a real pain to loose the filenames!


Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread tuxic
On 03/26 08:10, Adam Carter wrote:
> > Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
> >>> Next I will try to mount the sdcard.
> >>>
> >>>
> I hope you meant to say "mount the sdcard image". Once ddrescue has done
> its best, you wont try to use the sdcard again.
> 
> Also, you probably want to copy the image first, because when you try to
> fix it you will perform writes, and you dont want to lock yourself out of
> other recovery options by making potentially damaging writes.
> 
> 
> > What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
> >>>
> >>
> I'm not sure what you mean here given that you're making an image with
> ddrescue.
> 
> Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
> >> partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
> >>
> > the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
> >> (fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
> >> Or do I overlook something?
> >>
> >
> If ddrescue can read it cleanly with no retries (in which case it will
> offer no benefit over dd) then yes, I agree. However, given the cost of a
> card and the cost of your time and the risk to your data, I wouldnt be
> using it.
> 
> 
> > I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I
> > suspect sdcard design means that approach wont work.
> >
> 
> I would just use photorec against a copy of the image. I have done this in
> the past and recovered many files from a ddrescued image of a failing USB
> drive, however, all the filenames were lost.

Hi,

I copied the image of course and umounted the sdcard as soon as
possible.

As in my previous posting, as long the recovered files are images,
the lost of filenames my be annoying...
But in case of files of a Android system (from which the sdcard
originates) the lost of filenames is equivaltent to the lost of
the file itsself...

Cheers
Meino






Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread tuxic
On 03/26 08:18, Adam Carter wrote:
> > I got mixed results: There are three partitions on the sdcard from
> > which I could fully recover (even mount it directly via loop device)
> > the first and the third one.
> >
> > The second one is screwed up.
> >
> > Running fsch.ext4 against the image it starts with "bad superblock"
> > and suggests two alternatives.
> >
> > I started fsch.ext4 again while using -b to define the alternate
> > superblock and it starts to ask me *zillions of question, which
> > I all answered with 'yes' in a first attempt (I have a backup of the
> > image...).
> > The result was an image, which I could mount again.
> > But beside 'lost+found' with some small rests of something which
> > may be files in a previous life nothing was there...
> 
> 
> In that case its photorec time against the copy of the image (see previous
> note about only working on a copy - the changes that fsck makes may
> compromise photorec's efficacy). Probably worth reading the testdisk and
> photorec man pages first.

I did that already.
Gives me a lot of files with unrelated names.
Think of your GENTOO box with all names renamed
to something like

[index number].[filetype]

. So you got back your data but cannot use
it, since the names got lost.

For images this is not a big deal...display them
and you know probably how to rename them back
to something useful.

But what file is (for example)

-rwxr-xr-x   1 root root   4083 2011-11-22 03:46 file002873.bin

which is located somewhere in the Marianna trench of an Android
system???

Hm...

Currently I am playing with different kinds of "get lost" it seems...




Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread tuxic
On 03/26 04:50, Bill Kenworthy wrote:
> On 26/03/17 15:26, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> > On 03/26 03:04, Bill Kenworthy wrote:
> > > On 26/03/17 14:25, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> > > > On 03/26 05:50, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> > > > > On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:
> > > > > > Step 1: dd the contents into an image
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > step 2: put the sdcard to one side.
> > > > > > > step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
> > > > > > > step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it 
> > > > > > > fails ... try
> > > > > > > something else on another image copy
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
> > > > > > testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Hi all,
> > > > > 
> > > > > thanks a lot for all help! :)
> > > > > 
> > > > > Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
> > > > > Next I will try to mount the sdcard.
> > > > > 
> > > > > What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
> > > > > (...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
> > > > > that way...I am no native speaker... :)
> > > > > 
> > > > > Cheers
> > > > > Meino
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Hi,
> > > > 
> > > > Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
> > > > partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
> > > > the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
> > > > (fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
> > > > Or do I overlook something?
> > > > 
> > > > (Background: I dont want to put a sdcard into the bin, if
> > > > fdisking & reformatting that beast would gives me back an ok
> > > > media...)
> > > > 
> > > > Cheers
> > > > Meino
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > The dd gets you the best chance to work on the data before it completely
> > > fails.  In my experience the sdcard will only get worse ending with total
> > > failure - if it hasn't already.
> > > 
> > > If the dd dump comes up rubbish and cant be recovered, the actual sdcard
> > > will be worse.  You can run "strings" against the image to see if there is
> > > any text in there (or even cat the /dev/sdcard node through strings) to 
> > > see
> > > if the bits are still there.
> > > 
> > > I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I 
> > > suspect
> > > sdcard design means that approach wont work.
> > > 
> > > BillK
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > Hi Bill,
> > 
> > I got mixed results: There are three partitions on the sdcard from
> > which I could fully recover (even mount it directly via loop device)
> > the first and the third one.
> > 
> > The second one is screwed up.
> > 
> > Running fsch.ext4 against the image it starts with "bad superblock"
> > and suggests two alternatives.
> > 
> > I started fsch.ext4 again while using -b to define the alternate
> > superblock and it starts to ask me *zillions of question, which
> > I all answered with 'yes' in a first attempt (I have a backup of the
> > image...).
> > The result was an image, which I could mount again.
> > But beside 'lost+found' with some small rests of something which
> > may be files in a previous life nothing was there
> > 
> > Currently it looks to me, that something has totally messed up the fs
> > there.
> > 
> > What do you think?
> > 
> > Cheers
> > Meino
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> Sounds like its toast :(
> 
> I have never had a lot of luck with any of the ext file systems - you have
> to baby them and they corrupt very easily compared to others.  I try and
> avoid them ...
> 
> BillK
> 
> 
> 

Hi Bill,

...the SDcard is for my Android tablet, which runs kernel 3.6.x.something 
(Lollipop)
if I remember correctly. With the App Linux Deploy I installed Linux
on another partition of the sdcard and used to chroot into it.

With what filesystem did you made good experiences of, Bill? My GENTOO PC
(with which I am currently writing this email) also uses ext4...and
your last mail makes me nervous...very nervous...

For my tablet I have to use an filesystem, which is supported by and
compiled into the kernel. Unfortunately, there is no alternative 
Android build for this tablet...
In this case it is ext4 and vfat...and of that both I think ext4 is
better...

Cheers
Meino




Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Adam Carter
> I got mixed results: There are three partitions on the sdcard from
> which I could fully recover (even mount it directly via loop device)
> the first and the third one.
>
> The second one is screwed up.
>
> Running fsch.ext4 against the image it starts with "bad superblock"
> and suggests two alternatives.
>
> I started fsch.ext4 again while using -b to define the alternate
> superblock and it starts to ask me *zillions of question, which
> I all answered with 'yes' in a first attempt (I have a backup of the
> image...).
> The result was an image, which I could mount again.
> But beside 'lost+found' with some small rests of something which
> may be files in a previous life nothing was there...


In that case its photorec time against the copy of the image (see previous
note about only working on a copy - the changes that fsck makes may
compromise photorec's efficacy). Probably worth reading the testdisk and
photorec man pages first.


Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Adam Carter
> Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
>>> Next I will try to mount the sdcard.
>>>
>>>
I hope you meant to say "mount the sdcard image". Once ddrescue has done
its best, you wont try to use the sdcard again.

Also, you probably want to copy the image first, because when you try to
fix it you will perform writes, and you dont want to lock yourself out of
other recovery options by making potentially damaging writes.


> What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
>>>
>>
I'm not sure what you mean here given that you're making an image with
ddrescue.

Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
>> partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
>>
> the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
>> (fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
>> Or do I overlook something?
>>
>
If ddrescue can read it cleanly with no retries (in which case it will
offer no benefit over dd) then yes, I agree. However, given the cost of a
card and the cost of your time and the risk to your data, I wouldnt be
using it.


> I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I
> suspect sdcard design means that approach wont work.
>

I would just use photorec against a copy of the image. I have done this in
the past and recovered many files from a ddrescued image of a failing USB
drive, however, all the filenames were lost.


Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Bill Kenworthy

On 26/03/17 15:26, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 03:04, Bill Kenworthy wrote:

On 26/03/17 14:25, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 05:50, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:

Step 1: dd the contents into an image

ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.

step 2: put the sdcard to one side.

step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... try
something else on another image copy



Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.


Hi all,

thanks a lot for all help! :)

Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
Next I will try to mount the sdcard.

What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
(...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
that way...I am no native speaker... :)

Cheers
Meino




Hi,

Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
(fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
Or do I overlook something?

(Background: I dont want to put a sdcard into the bin, if
fdisking & reformatting that beast would gives me back an ok
media...)

Cheers
Meino






The dd gets you the best chance to work on the data before it completely
fails.  In my experience the sdcard will only get worse ending with total
failure - if it hasn't already.

If the dd dump comes up rubbish and cant be recovered, the actual sdcard
will be worse.  You can run "strings" against the image to see if there is
any text in there (or even cat the /dev/sdcard node through strings) to see
if the bits are still there.

I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I suspect
sdcard design means that approach wont work.

BillK





Hi Bill,

I got mixed results: There are three partitions on the sdcard from
which I could fully recover (even mount it directly via loop device)
the first and the third one.

The second one is screwed up.

Running fsch.ext4 against the image it starts with "bad superblock"
and suggests two alternatives.

I started fsch.ext4 again while using -b to define the alternate
superblock and it starts to ask me *zillions of question, which
I all answered with 'yes' in a first attempt (I have a backup of the
image...).
The result was an image, which I could mount again.
But beside 'lost+found' with some small rests of something which
may be files in a previous life nothing was there

Currently it looks to me, that something has totally messed up the fs
there.

What do you think?

Cheers
Meino






Sounds like its toast :(

I have never had a lot of luck with any of the ext file systems - you 
have to baby them and they corrupt very easily compared to others.  I 
try and avoid them ...


BillK





Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread tuxic
On 03/26 03:04, Bill Kenworthy wrote:
> On 26/03/17 14:25, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> > On 03/26 05:50, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> > > On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:
> > > > Step 1: dd the contents into an image
> > > > 
> > > > ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.
> > > > 
> > > > step 2: put the sdcard to one side.
> > > > > step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
> > > > > step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails 
> > > > > ... try
> > > > > something else on another image copy
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
> > > > testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.
> > > 
> > > Hi all,
> > > 
> > > thanks a lot for all help! :)
> > > 
> > > Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
> > > Next I will try to mount the sdcard.
> > > 
> > > What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
> > > (...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
> > > that way...I am no native speaker... :)
> > > 
> > > Cheers
> > > Meino
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
> > partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
> > the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
> > (fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
> > Or do I overlook something?
> > 
> > (Background: I dont want to put a sdcard into the bin, if
> > fdisking & reformatting that beast would gives me back an ok
> > media...)
> > 
> > Cheers
> > Meino
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> The dd gets you the best chance to work on the data before it completely
> fails.  In my experience the sdcard will only get worse ending with total
> failure - if it hasn't already.
> 
> If the dd dump comes up rubbish and cant be recovered, the actual sdcard
> will be worse.  You can run "strings" against the image to see if there is
> any text in there (or even cat the /dev/sdcard node through strings) to see
> if the bits are still there.
> 
> I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I suspect
> sdcard design means that approach wont work.
> 
> BillK
> 
> 
> 

Hi Bill,

I got mixed results: There are three partitions on the sdcard from
which I could fully recover (even mount it directly via loop device)
the first and the third one.

The second one is screwed up.

Running fsch.ext4 against the image it starts with "bad superblock"
and suggests two alternatives.

I started fsch.ext4 again while using -b to define the alternate
superblock and it starts to ask me *zillions of question, which 
I all answered with 'yes' in a first attempt (I have a backup of the 
image...).
The result was an image, which I could mount again.
But beside 'lost+found' with some small rests of something which
may be files in a previous life nothing was there

Currently it looks to me, that something has totally messed up the fs
there.

What do you think?

Cheers
Meino







Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-26 Thread Bill Kenworthy

On 26/03/17 14:25, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 05:50, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:

Step 1: dd the contents into an image

ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.

step 2: put the sdcard to one side.

step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... try
something else on another image copy



Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.


Hi all,

thanks a lot for all help! :)

Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
Next I will try to mount the sdcard.

What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
(...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
that way...I am no native speaker... :)

Cheers
Meino




Hi,

Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
(fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
Or do I overlook something?

(Background: I dont want to put a sdcard into the bin, if
fdisking & reformatting that beast would gives me back an ok
media...)

Cheers
Meino






The dd gets you the best chance to work on the data before it completely 
fails.  In my experience the sdcard will only get worse ending with 
total failure - if it hasn't already.


If the dd dump comes up rubbish and cant be recovered, the actual sdcard 
will be worse.  You can run "strings" against the image to see if there 
is any text in there (or even cat the /dev/sdcard node through strings) 
to see if the bits are still there.


I dont know of a cdparanoia type recovery utility for sdcards but I 
suspect sdcard design means that approach wont work.


BillK





Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread tuxic
On 03/26 05:50, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:
> > Step 1: dd the contents into an image
> > 
> > ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.
> > 
> > step 2: put the sdcard to one side.
> > > step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
> > > step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... try
> > > something else on another image copy
> > 
> > 
> > Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
> > testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> thanks a lot for all help! :)
> 
> Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
> Next I will try to mount the sdcard.
> 
> What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
> (...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
> that way...I am no native speaker... :)
> 
> Cheers
> Meino
> 
> 

Hi,

Is the assumption correct, that -- if ddrescue could read each
partitions of the sdcard without stuttering, retries and errors --
the sdcard itsself is ok and "only" the logical structure
(fs, superblock etc) got damaged?
Or do I overlook something?

(Background: I dont want to put a sdcard into the bin, if
fdisking & reformatting that beast would gives me back an ok
media...)

Cheers
Meino






Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread tuxic
On 03/26 11:21, Adam Carter wrote:
> Step 1: dd the contents into an image
> 
> ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.
> 
> step 2: put the sdcard to one side.
> > step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
> > step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... try
> > something else on another image copy
> 
> 
> Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
> testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.

Hi all,

thanks a lot for all help! :)

Currently I am ddresucueing the flashcard to the harddisc.
Next I will try to mount the sdcard.

What reliable sdcard-reader can one recommend ?
(...sorry if this sentence sounds harsh...I it by no means meant
that way...I am no native speaker... :)

Cheers
Meino







Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread Adam Carter
Step 1: dd the contents into an image

ddrescue is probably a better option than plain dd.

step 2: put the sdcard to one side.
> step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
> step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... try
> something else on another image copy


Yep, once you've got the image mounted loopback, you can run
testdisk/photorec depending on how bad it is.


Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread Bill Kenworthy

On 26/03/17 03:15, tu...@posteo.de wrote:

Hi,

(Running Gentoo Linux on a 4.9.17 vanilla (ftp.kernel.org) Linux
kernel)

I was doing a backyp of a 64GB SAMSUNG flash card to my
harddiskwhich runs for quite a while...

For that I mount the partitions and tarred their contents as root
to the harddisk

Syddenly out of nothing/from nowhere/into thin air or whatever:
read errors happens and the process stops.


Step 1: dd the contents into an image
step 2: put the sdcard to one side.
step 3: loopback mount a copy of the image (not the original)
step 4: try recovering the filesystem on the loopback, if it fails ... 
try something else on another image copy.


SDcard reliability sucks :(

William K.





Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread wabe
tu...@posteo.de wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> (Running Gentoo Linux on a 4.9.17 vanilla (ftp.kernel.org) Linux
> kernel)
> 
> I was doing a backyp of a 64GB SAMSUNG flash card to my
> harddiskwhich runs for quite a while...
> 
> For that I mount the partitions and tarred their contents as root
> to the harddisk
> 
> Syddenly out of nothing/from nowhere/into thin air or whatever:
> read errors happens and the process stops.
> 
> First I thought of the one an most hated failure of harddisks, which
> in years of deveopment of computer technology no company was able to
> fix: No space left on device.
> 
> But - no,,,the error was a _READ_ error and a 'ls' of the mountpoints
> shownothing but empty directories.
> 
> I tried to unmount/remount the sd card and got this output:
> mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb2,
>missing codepage or helper program, or other error
> 
>In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
>dmesg | tail or so.
> 
> dmesg gives me:
> [  236.021878] UDF-fs: warning (device sdb2): udf_fill_super: No
> partition found (2)
> 
> 
> UDF??? --  Those partitions are either ext4 or vfat.
> (A tried that with and without the -t option...)
> 
> fdisk -l /dev/sdb gave me:
> Device Boot Start   End  Sectors  Size Id Type
> /dev/sdb1   32768  73433087 73400320   35G 83 Linux
> /dev/sdb273433088 100696063 27262976   13G 83 Linux
> /dev/sdb3   100696064 125042687 24346624 11.6G 83 Linux
> 
> So -- the partition table is still there (I had booted the PC
> in between...so these are no ghosts of an abondomed cache...)
> 
> If a certain kernel module woyld be missing I wouldn't not
> able to mount the partition right before starting the backyp
> - but I could.
> 
> The partition table is there so this part of "DMESG predicts"
> is also not applicable here.
> 
> What happens here? Flash killed? Is there any chance to rescye
> some or all contents of that card? Any ideas other than
> hoping for an alternate reality?

You can try to recover some data with photorec (part of 
testdisk).

Btw.: If it is a microsd card I would put it into an 
microsd-to-sd adapter. I made some strange experiences
with different types of card readers when I used microsd
cards directly without an adapter.

--
Regards
wabe



Re: [gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread Daniel Frey
On 03/25/2017 12:15 PM, tu...@posteo.de wrote:
> What happens here? Flash killed? Is there any chance to rescye
> some or all contents of that card? Any ideas other than
> hoping for an alternate reality?

Sounds to me like your card is dead. I've had this happen to several
SSDs too by the way, they fail the same way. One minute it works, the
next it's dead. It's why I don't keep anything valuable on SSDs. They're
way too unpredictable for my tastes.

Dan




[gentoo-user] The sudden disappearance of ....WHAT??? (I/O error on a SD flash card?!)

2017-03-25 Thread tuxic
Hi,

(Running Gentoo Linux on a 4.9.17 vanilla (ftp.kernel.org) Linux
kernel)

I was doing a backyp of a 64GB SAMSUNG flash card to my
harddiskwhich runs for quite a while...

For that I mount the partitions and tarred their contents as root
to the harddisk

Syddenly out of nothing/from nowhere/into thin air or whatever:
read errors happens and the process stops.

First I thought of the one an most hated failure of harddisks, which
in years of deveopment of computer technology no company was able to
fix: No space left on device.

But - no,,,the error was a _READ_ error and a 'ls' of the mountpoints
shownothing but empty directories.

I tried to unmount/remount the sd card and got this output:
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdb2,
   missing codepage or helper program, or other error

   In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
   dmesg | tail or so.

dmesg gives me:
[  236.021878] UDF-fs: warning (device sdb2): udf_fill_super: No partition 
found (2)


UDF??? --  Those partitions are either ext4 or vfat.
(A tried that with and without the -t option...)

fdisk -l /dev/sdb gave me:
Device Boot Start   End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1   32768  73433087 73400320   35G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb273433088 100696063 27262976   13G 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3   100696064 125042687 24346624 11.6G 83 Linux

So -- the partition table is still there (I had booted the PC
in between...so these are no ghosts of an abondomed cache...)

If a certain kernel module woyld be missing I wouldn't not
able to mount the partition right before starting the backyp
- but I could.

The partition table is there so this part of "DMESG predicts"
is also not applicable here.

What happens here? Flash killed? Is there any chance to rescye
some or all contents of that card? Any ideas other than
hoping for an alternate reality?

Thanks a lot for any help in advance!

Cheers
Meino