GNU dd_rescue is a program that can be used to recover data from a disk with errors. For example a hard disk with some bad sectors. It is a modified version of dd with 2 features that make it great for rescuing data from a failing hard drive. The first is you can tell dd_rescue to start from the end of a file (disk) and move backwards. Second, it uses two block sizes, a large (soft) block size and a small (hard) block size. In case of errors, the size falls back to the small one and is promoted again after a while without errors.
A simple example of what a rescue might look like with dd_rescue is below. Be sure to read the read me file and man page for more info.
Installing on Ubunutu is as easy as "sudo apt-get install gddrescue".
1.
dd_rescue /dev/hda1 /home/pantz/brokedrive_hda1.img
2. Wait a long ass time.
3. Setup image as a device.
losetup /dev/loop1 /home/pantz/brokedrive_hda1.img
4. Mount it (you have to know your filesystem).
mount -t ext3 /dev/loop1 /media/cdrom
5. Change to the dir where the rescue image is mounted.
cd /media/cdrom
6. Look all all your files hopefully.
ls -la
Other free disk recovery software that you might check out is PhotoRec or TestDisk.
