[Info-vax] ODS-5 data/file recovery

[MG]

On 18-feb-2013 18:18, gce at gce.com wrote:
> Your best bet, for a single file, is just to dump the index file
> to look for some of the filename (or dump a directory and see if file
> ID may still be there), then follow retrieval pointers by hand (or by
> tool if a tool works) and copy the data off. You'll want some tool that
> grabs LBNs and dumps (or if doing this under linux, use dd).

First of all, thank you very much for your input!  I like the
idea of using "dd", I will keep that in mind and I might consider
that.

Although, I think that --- like many have suggested --- it's going
to be a very slight chance and very likely not.  Another painful
aspect: It's a 1.64 Tbyte volume and it is going to take ages to
plow through it.  I also feel that the >1 Tbyte support (since V8.4)
is also still quite timid...  For instance, yesterday the "BACKUP
/PHYSICAL" failed prematurely and it even screwed up the SCSI
sub-system (or maybe it was LDD that couldn't handle it, not sure).


> When ods-5 came in, much was made of the point that an ods-2 volume could
> be converted in place, without moving everything around. The change was
> made to allow long filenames with case information, and was not intended
> as a massive roto-till of the structure. Most of it (and importantly the
> retrieval pointer business) would work the same.

I see.  It's too bad, although understandable, that a reversal (i.e.
'downgrade') wasn't possible.


>    Losing files due to accidental deletion is common everywhere. If you
> want to have precautions to avoid this, note safety has such (available
> over at www.gce.com) but it has not been built for awhile and might need
> tweaking to get it working again. Also it predates IA64 so a few dragon's
> teeth are to be expected if you want to get it going on one of those boxes.
> It does work on vaz or alpha. The scheme of catching files before they go
> is however useless in situations like this. Good thing there is SOME backup
> in existence.

Yes, that's true, I do indeed have a somewhat recent (late 2012)
back-up.  I think I'm going to save myself and others from even
reading about this and move on.

I can 'recreate' some of my bookkeeping, the truly important data
I still have.

Thank you again for the input, I really appreciate it!

  - MG