Re: [Bug-ddrescue] How to properly repair rescued image?

[Ariel]

On Mon, 11 Jun 2007, James W. Watts wrote:

> I used ddrescue v1.3 to copy a crashed Windows XP NTFS partition. The rescued 
> NTFS image file is
> stored on a hard drive with a single EXT2 partition. Referencing the tutorial 
> in 'ddrescue.info',
> I will next copy the image to a different drive for the repair stage.
>
> The tutorial states, "After the copy is repaired, with e2fsck or some other 
> tool appropriate for
> the type of partition..." I'm confused. Does this mean that the tool for repair 
> needs to match the
> file system of the rescued image file (NTFS in my case) or the file system of 
> the partition on
> which the rescued image file resides (EXT2 in my case)? Please advise.
>
> If the latter is true, I presume I will be able to run e2fsck against the image 
> for repair. If the
> former is true, I'm not sure how to repair the image. Would I need to copy the 
> image to an
> NTFS-formatted hard drive, mount that HD in an XP machine, then run an NTFS 
> partition repair tool?
> I've looked for such a tool that is Linux-based (e.g. ntfsck), but it does not 
> yet exist.

You need to create a partition EXACTLY the same size as the old partition 
was (down to the byte exactly).

Then copy the ntfs data to that partition, boot windows and have windows 
checkdisk (or some other commercial tool) work on it.

Unlike linux windows can not open a filesystem that is stored as a regular 
file, it has to be in a partition (and make sure the partition type is 
correct).

Hmm, actually it's theoretically possible you could use VMware, or other 
virtualizer, to mount the file as if it was a real partition.

When you create the partition you must use a tool that can show you 
exactly how big it is (in sectors - multiply by 512 to get bytes).

You may need to tell the partitioning tool to use a specific number of 
heads and sectors-per-track (i.e. to use the same number as was used on 
the original partition), otherwise you will find it impossible to make a 
partition exactly the same size.

Good luck.

        -Ariel