[ale] OT: Migrating off dying HDD

[H. A. Story]

Why not just put the PC in the freezer.  Run power, video,mouse and 
keyboard out.   Then work away.   Just let anyone see you trying it.. :)

Adrin



Bob Toxen wrote:

>Put the drive in your refrigerator or freezer, either near the fan or
>also put a small fan in.
>
>If you still cannot get more than a few minutes operations, either
>rsync (like someone else suggested) or use the dd program to copy until
>it dies, then cool and re-invoke dd with the skil and seek options
>to pick up after the last good block already copied.
>
>Bob Toxen
>bob at verysecurelinux.com               [Please use for email to me]
>http://www.verysecurelinux.com        [Network&Linux/Unix security consulting]
>http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com [My book:"Real World Linux Security 2/e"]
>Quality Linux & UNIX security and SysAdmin & software consulting since 1990.
>
>"Microsoft: Unsafe at any clock speed!"
>   -- Bob Toxen 10/03/2002
>
>On Mon, Nov 14, 2005 at 01:05:25PM -0500, John Mills wrote:
>  
>
>>ALErs -
>>
>>I have a problem repairing a friend's MsWin Dell 'Inspiron 2600' notebook.
>>
>>The old HDD will only run a few minutes before it ceases to respond,
>>probably due to internal overheating. I get the same results when the HDD
>>is extended externally on a 'Simple Drive' PCMCIA adapter, so I really
>>think it's the HDD that is causing the problem, not general internal
>>overheating of the laptop.
>>
>>No problem installing a new drive (now done, in fact), but I foresee a
>>long and painful migration of user data, even after a clean &8-) MsWin
>>reinstallation from CD.
>>
>>The drive's current, usable half-life is far too little to transfer any 
>>great fraction of [say] the user's documents, etc. I get perhaps 300 MBy, 
>>then it clams up. Turn off, cool down, try again, and repeat ...
>>
>>Questions:
>>
>> 1. What directories should I copy first to migrate e-mail and web links
>>of importance?
>>
>> 2. It would sure be nice to migrate the whole installation if 
>>I can find a suitable MS tool. Any recommendations?
>>
>> 3. Other than a fan, any clever ideas to keep this #$%&!! working long
>>enough to dump a good fraction of its data? (I plan setting it on a
>>cold-block and see if that helps.)
>>
>>I have MsWin and Linux both available as hosts, FWIW. I also have an
>>adapter to connect the 2.5" notebook HDD to a standard PC-format IDE
>>controller.
>>
>>Thanks for any guidance.
>>
>> - John Mills
>>   john.m.mills at alum.mit.edu
>>
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>>Ale at ale.org
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>>    
>>
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