On 12-07-28 05:38 PM, Greg wrote:
Diagnosing the system is a red-herring.. stop chasing it.
Your job is to save the photographs.
If the photographer went by the book, that one USB contains the original
copy of every photo he ever took, possibly minus the most recent. Also
important intermediate and final processed files. Look also for SD
cards in his cameras, and in his kits, and lying around.
Get a new USB drive, make copies, preserving timestamps, of the USB
drive and all the SD cards.
Catalogue the pieces of equipment.. details are unimport at first.
Get two more USB drives (or four). Make two copies, preserving
timestamps, of the system disk(s). Look for any loose diskdrives, but
don't even read them until you feel the need to read outweighs the risk
of drivefailure. Catalogue the pieces of equipment.
John suggests drive images; I would be content with filesystem copies
provided I was sure I got everything and the copies are good. If you
choose images, Gnu's ddrescue might be of interest.
Put one copy in a safe. Search the other. Look first to identify all
the photographs, and all the software packages. Knowing the packages
will help identify many of the partially and fully processed photos..
AND should help locate those calibration files (which may have been
tweaked over time.
I think you will find more preserved intermediate copies when the
photographer was unsure how his software worked, and when he thought a
photo was particularly valuable.
You are probably not qualified, nor do you have time, to examine and
catalogue the photos.
Provide lists of the files, notes about identifying the photographer's
workflow (which doubtless changed overtime, and according to deadlines).
John's software to identify and (safely) prune duplicate files may
help. As would removing or segregating system and package files.
Once you have two clean copies of everything, and a sense of the
photographer's workhabits, examine the hardware, and decide whether to
repair or replace. If the photos are valuable, replace is safer.
If the photos are really valuable, and a drive proves defective, look
for a professional recovery service.
Greg
Never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Greg.
I've used Tunstall and Tunstall (good guys). They are data recovery
specialists used by the RCMP and other spooky lettered organizations
here in Ottawa for drive recovery and evidence capture. Experts,
expensive and professional. They are located on the end of Colonnade
Rd. near Prince of Wales.
Given the value and fragility of the images I would focus on safe
preservation of the images and associated data with very low priority on
the hardware. ddrescue has recovered stuff for me little else does, but
only after all else has been tried. Mount the drives ro (Read Only)
while using them. First step is to clone a complete image, then attempt
recovery from the image, not the original. Preserve the original
without running the drive any more than necessary, so Tunstall &
Tunstall have no added mess from you to dig through.
--
Bill Strosberg