Will HDDSuperClone delete a GNU ddrescue image file if you try to reuse a map and image file?

[Argosh]

Hi!,

First of all, congratulations @maximus for your work on HDDSuperClone, great software. I tried it a couple of times in the past (when it was CLI oriented); it's good to see that the project keeps growing fast. The thing is, I am tinkering a bit with your tool but I never used HDDSuperClone in order to continue a GNU ddrescue, ddrescue hereinafter, recovery (by reusing a ddrescue's log and image file already created with it). I've imported the ddrescue's log without any issues but then, when I am gonna choose the image file as a destination drive, it shows me the following warning:

"A file named <myImageFilename> already exist. Do you want to replace it? The file already exists in <path>. Replacing it will overwrite its contents.".

My question is, just to be clear: Will ddrescue delete my image file completely or it only will write/overwrite the parts of image file (.img) specified in the map file as not finished/rescued (or a domain file if you specify one) so it can continue the rescue? or, conversely, will I need to create a new image file and combine it with the ddrescue's one?.

As far as I know, you can continue the ddrescue recovery process with the log file (as far as you were creating an image from a whole disk not a partition) but I didn't found any clear information in the HDDSuperClone's manual (or some forum post) saying explicitly that you can use the ddrescue's image file without it being completely overwritten.

I suppose it will respect the log file and only overwrite the necessary bytes in the raw image file and that warning -the GUI shows you when selecting the image file as Destination Drive-, is the default warning the GTK library shows you when you select an existing file from the file explorer. Anyway, it would be a nice idea to add a clarification about this in the manual of HDDSuperClone and modify that warning in the GUI so the user can be 100% sure . BTW I already did a backup of the image but, if you need to create one, it is something that could take several hours (depending of the file/disk size) and you might not have that time if you are not totally sure about this.

Anyway, great project. Congratulations again for HDDSuperClone @maximus. I've read the FULL documentation (yeah I'm one of those RTFM people) and dived this forum for the last two hours and looks quite interesting. I like the fact that you can bypass the SO drivers (direct IO mode) so you can 'talk' to the disk more directly which allows you more control of the errors and you can get fewer bad reads during the process.

PS. I have a bunch of suggestions about the project (web, HDDLiveCD and HDDSuperClone). I can create a post this next week listing them if you want.

 

[maximus]

I am going to answer this in chunks as I (my brain) process them...

"A file named <myImageFilename> already exist. Do you want to replace it? The file already exists in <path>. Replacing it will overwrite its contents.".

My question is, just to be clear: Will ddrescue delete my image file completely or it only will write/overwrite the parts of image file (.img) specified in the map file as not finished/rescued (or a domain file if you specify one) so it can continue the rescue? or, conversely, will I need to create a new image file and combine it with the ddrescue's one?.

HDDSuperClone will pick up where ddrescue left off using the same destination image file or drive. The only case where you cannot do this is if the ddresuce attempt was for a partition and not a whole drive, in which case you would have to start over with HDDSuperClone.

 

[maximus]

[post]11081[/post] I suppose it will respect the log file and only overwrite the necessary bytes in the raw image file and that warning -the GUI shows you when selecting the image file as Destination Drive-, is the default warning the GTK library shows you when you select an existing file from the file explorer. Anyway, it would be a nice idea to add a clarification about this in the manual of HDDSuperClone and modify that warning in the GUI so the user can be 100% sure

I will make a note to put something in the manual to clarify this.

 

[maximus]

[post]11081[/post] "A file named <myImageFilename> already exist. Do you want to replace it? The file already exists in <path>. Replacing it will overwrite its contents.".

[post]11081[/post] and modify that warning in the GUI so the user can be 100% sure

The warning is built into GTK. I have the option to disable or enable it, but not change what it says. I chose to enable it to make sure the user is clear of the file they are choosing to use for the image, and not overwriting some other file that they did not want to.

 

[maximus]

[post]11102[/post]
The warning is built into GTK. I have the option to disable or enable it, but not change what it says. I chose to enable it to make sure the user is clear of the file they are choosing to use for the image, and not overwriting some other file that they did not want to.

I guess I could turn it off, and if I want do my own check to see of the file exists and then present my own message... Technically you don't get any message for choosing a destination drive. I know at one point in time I had the warning turned off, and for some reason I felt better with it on :?

 

[maximus]

[post]11081[/post] PS. I have a bunch of suggestions about the project (web, HDDLiveCD and HDDSuperClone). I can create a post this next week listing them if you want.

Suggestions are always welcome, but just be aware that I may not implement all suggestions, and even the ones that I do may not happen in a timely manner. You can present suggestions as you wish.