Recovering data from bad hard disk sectors ? (WAS: Feisty: recent updates causing freezes ??)

[Nils Kassube]

Vincent Trouilliez wrote:
> hda: dma_intr: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
> hda: dma_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError },
> LBAsect=37110239,high=2, low=3555807, sector=37110225
> ide: failed opcode was: unknown
> end_request: I/O error, dev hda, sector 37110225 Buffer I/O error on
> device hda7, logical block 3
> ---------
>
> If I understand, the drive has developped bad sectors inside my home
> partition, bad luck.... :-/ Is there any recovery tool that could
> perhaps get some of my data back, from the remaining, healthy sectors
> of the partition ? That would be great... I have lost a lot, the last
> 15 years of my life, so if I can recover some bits and bobs, no matter
> how little, I would be glad ! Yes yes, I will now think seriously of
> setting up a back up system of some sort, and run it regularly... I
> fully understand that I just got what I deserved... I should not have
> trusted a hard drive, eventhough it was only a few months old...
> Still, if the problem is bad sectors as it seems... isn't a file
> system, supposed to mark such sectors so as not to put data on it ?

I have a similar error sometimes with an old drive. I found that the error 
doesn't occur if I disable DMA for that drive. Use

ide=nodma

as a boot option. Maybe it helps for your drive as well.


Nils