[Bug-ddrescue] GNU ddrescue data recovery tool - suggestions

[wilsonstreet]

ref;
http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/ddrescue.html


Hello,

I have begun to use gddrescue to recover some lost data from
a few damaged hard disks.

Because I was concerned about making an error with the use
of this program,
I did much reading about it.

I needed to make sure that I would know what I was doing
with the "options".

As it turns out, the tasks of data recovery seem like they
will be relatively simple compared to what I was expecting I
would have to do.

In order to help new and present users to more quickly learn
enough to feel at ease with this program, I have a few
suggestions.

1) Help option
a) In various websites that give examples of use, there are
some pretty clear command examples.
It would save the potential user much effort, if the
information in help included some example commands for
common tasks.
b) For each of the options, it might be helpful to indicate
groups of tasks that each option might be used for. For
example, options might be assigned the task groups within
brackets useful for (CD/DVD , direct access , first pass ,
second pass , third pass , compilation from multiple sources
, etc).

2) Additional Options
a) include some quick start options, say for first pass,
second pass , third pass
b) super quick dummy run . This is mainly used for the user
to check their command is correct, and still get some feel
for how the program will perform and report. This could be
used for ;
bi) practice with some dummy files or folders (which could
be provided with the program and manual files), 
bii) practice with good data on a good drive, 
biii) test run on damaged drive or file.
c) quick command to copy image from one partition to
another.

3) Script
a)Script to run the program by asking questions about
source, destination, log, and options. Then it constructs
the command, and checks with the user that all is correct.
Then it either actually runs, or can do a test dummy run.
b) GUI version using one of the standardized windowing
systems.

4) Internal check within program to spot possible anomalies
with user settings and the options. 
a) For example detect if the destination appears to be on
the same drive as the source, or the log file is not on the
same drive or folder as the destination image.
b) The log file has not been specified - is the user sure
that they do not want to use a log file, or would the user
like to use a log file, and have the log file stored in the
same subfolder as the image, and use the suggested name for
the log file (say back appended to the name of the
drive/partition - e.g. backSDB2.log , or the "name of the
image.log" , or some other option).
c) using an automatically generated log file name that has
fixed relationship to the image name, makes it very easy to
search for a log file if it gets lost, or there are many
images and log in the same folder or disk, and the user
needs to know which to associate with each other. Maybe
consider a standardized default method for naming the files
e.g. , type of source (file, partition, or disk), source
file /partition / disk name, attempt number (which could be
the result of several passes) or the name of an alternative
source , date / time.
This may not meet the needs of all situations, but would
certainly help for many common situations, and several of
the rarer ones. It reduces the imagination and decisions
needed to complete tasks. It standardizes the behaviour of
diverse users, so more users can readily understand what was
done by other users, without needing specific explanations
(good for contractors, IT departments, generally).

5) Warnings or precautions
These could be included in the help section, or could be an
additional option (e.g. w).
Warnings such as ;
a) images larger than 4GB should not be attempted to be sent
to partitions that are formatted in the following formats
(fat32, etc). For images larger than 4GB partition formats
of the following formats are recommended (ntfs, ext3, etc).
b) What to do if your hard disk is making various sounds ...
c) check the integrity of the image's destination media.
d) any other important matters as they arise.

I hope any of these are useful,
and help increase the uptake of this great program
by new users.

Thank you very much for working on this program.
Yours
Al