Re: [Bug-ddrescue] Reply to bugs in the manual, concerning the --fill-mode chapter

[Robert Trevellyan]

I believe "-dr9" in the example is equivalent to "-d -r9", i.e. "--idirect
--retry-passes=9".

Robert Trevellyan
518 392 0846
https://trevellyan.biz

On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 3:39 AM, Анонимный отправитель <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hello, Prashant Subbarao and Antonio Diaz Diaz!
> I have news for the latest bug reports. My message is at the bottom of
> this letter.
> ----- Original Message -----
> Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2016 7:00 PM
> > Send Bug-ddrescue mailing list submissions to
> > address@hidden
>
> 1. possible bug on GNU ddrescue (Prashant Subbarao)
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 17:17:35 -0400
> > From: Prashant Subbarao <address@hidden>
> > To: address@hidden
> > Subject: [Bug-ddrescue] possible bug on GNU ddrescue
> > Message-ID:
> > <address@hidden>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >
> > Dear Mr. Antonio Diaz Diaz or To Whom It May Concern:
> >  Following the instructions on the man page (
> >
> https://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/manual/ddrescue_manual.html#Fill-mode
> ),
> > I am attempting to use GNU ddrescue to fill the bad sectors in my
> recovered
> > hard disk with a random string, "RMEUHEJB", that I have put into a
> tmpfile.
> > address@hidden:~/Desktop$ printf "RMEUHEJB" > tmpfile
> > address@hidden:~/Desktop$ sudo ddrescue --fill-mode=l- tmpfile
> /dev/sdc rescue.JustPlusMinus.log
> > *ddrescue: unrecognized option `--fill-mode=l-'*
> > *Try `ddrescue --help' for more information.*
> > I get the error above (emphasis added for clarity). I copied and pasted
> the
> > command straight from the man page, only changing the target device and
> > mapfile; so I don't think I made a mistake in the execution of the
> command.
> > Can you please advise me? I really appreciate your help and prompt
> > attention to this.
> > Best Regards,
> > Prashant Subbarao
>
> I may help in this case. Reading carefully the manual, we find the correct
> usage examples for --fill-mode:
> The fill mode has a number of uses. See the following examples:
> Example 1: Mark parts of the rescued copy to allow finding them when
> examined in an hex editor.
> For example, the following command line fills all blocks marked as '-'
> (bad-sector) with copies of the string 'BAD SECTOR ':
>      printf "BAD SECTOR " > tmpfile
>      ddrescue --fill-mode=- tmpfile outfile mapfile
> Example 2: Wipe only the good sectors, leaving the bad sectors alone.
> This way, the drive will still test bad (i.e., with unreadable sectors).
> This is the fastest way of wiping a failing drive, and is specially useful
> when sending the drive back to the manufacturer for warranty replacement.
>      ddrescue --fill-mode=+ --force /dev/zero bad_drive mapfile
> Example 3: Force the drive to remap the bad sectors, making it usable
> again. If the drive has only a few bad sectors, and they are not caused by
> drive age, you can probably just rewrite those sectors, and the drive will
> reallocate them automatically to new "spare" sectors that it keeps for just
> this purpose. WARNING! This may not work on your drive.
>      ddrescue --fill-mode=- -f --synchronous /dev/zero bad_drive mapfile
>
> So, for your purpose, Prashant, you should use the following command lines:
> printf "RMEUHEJB" > tmpfile
> sudo ddrescue --fill-mode=- tmpfile /dev/sdc rescue.JustPlusMinus.log
>
> Antonio, there is really a BUG in the following one line of the online
> manual, there should be "-" (minus) instead of "l-" (L minus):
> https://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/manual/ddrescue_manual.html#Fill-mode
> - Example 4
> ddrescue --fill-mode=l- tmpfile cdimage mapfile
> should be:
> ddrescue --fill-mode=- tmpfile cdimage mapfile
>
> One more issue - I can not understand the option "-dr9" in the following
> line of the online manual:
>    ddrescue -b2048 -i0x12345000 -s2048 -dr9 /dev/cdrom cdimage mapfile
> Is it meaningful, or is it just another misprint/mistake in the manual?
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