Begin
File:disk_raw.tgz
Description:file recovery utility
Keywords:disk_raw file recovery
Version:        
Entered-date:Jan 21, 1996
Author:         
Ported-by:      
Original-site:  
Copying-policy:	
Supplemental:
			DISK_RAW USAGE


'disk_raw' may be used to recover accidently rm'd files.  It was NOT
intended to recover data lost due to disk corruption.  It is best to
run 'chkfsys' before using disk_raw.  The successful recovery of data
depends upon the activity of partition.  The more the partition is 
written to, the less likely successful recovery will be.

disk_raw will open the partition as READ ONLY so there is no way that
it can cause corruption or data loss in any way -- even if mis-used!

disk_raw will print a message whenever a bad signature is encountered
so it is best to run disk_raw in the background.  This will give a 
"feel" for how much of a file is valid, especially when doing recursive
copies.  NOTE: disk_raw does NOT check .bitmap and thus has no way to
validate the first extent of each file.  So even if a file was copied
without any warning messages, it may not be valid data!

disk_raw attaches a prefix (default /raw) and is used with cd, ls and
cp utilities.  For example, "ls /raw" will output something similar to
"ls /" except that 'prefixes' will not be shown (example dev) and 
removed files/directories will be shown.  If the -c option is used with
disk_raw and the ls was run on a qnx terminal, the erased files will show up
in color (red on white).  NOTE: if color is displayed, the output columns
may not be aligned properly.  NOTE: erased files will NOT be highlighted
if their names exceed 9 characters.

When cp'ing files, it is best for the destination to be located on a 
different file system than the source. For example, floppy disk, ram disk,
a second partition (even a DOS partition), or across the network.  It is
possible to cp files to the same file system, however this will greatly
reduce the success of recovery and is not recommended.



EXAMPLE:

	1) Prepare a floppy in drive /dev/fd0.  The floppy should
		be formated, dinit'd, and contain some data files.

	2) Run "rm -r /fd0" where /fd0 is the mount point of /dev/fd0.

	3) Run "disk_raw -d /dev/fd0 &".

	4) Run "ls -r /raw".  All files that were just removed will be 
		displayed.

	5) Run "cp -r /raw some_dir" where some_dir is a directory located
		anywhere but NOT on the floppy.

	All files have just been restored!!




disk_raw has a -s option which can be used to scan a partition for the
QNX directory signature.  This can be useful if the root block has become
corrupted.  If the -s option is specified, disk_raw will catch SIGINT
and scan for the next sequential directory signature every time it is hit
with the SIGINT signal.  When a directory signature is found, disk_raw
will change its "root" to that new directory (no way to go back :-( 
so that an 'ls /raw' will display the contents of the newly found directory.

NOTE: because the directory was scanned for via signature, there is no
information about the directory itself regarding size, xblocks etc.  Therefore,
disk_raw ALWAYS assumes that the directory is maximum 32 entries (if there is
more, there is no way to find it ((yet!)).  Although very limited, the -s option
can be used to partially recover some data when the root block is corrupt!

NOTE: generating the SIGINT signal can be done using the kill or slay
utilities but the easiest way is to NOT run disk_raw in the background
and use ^C.

 
archive contents:

drwxrwxr-x  0 briane   support 	         Jan 22 13:20 disk_raw/
-rwxrwxr-x  0 briane   support 	   51055 Jun 13 15:20 disk_raw/disk_raw
-rw-rw-r--  0 briane   support 	    3285 Jul 19 10:21 disk_raw/USAGE.disk_raw
End