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Greetings,

Note, I can ls and navigate through /home directories if
I boot cdrom.

1. Running RH 8.0 on disk hdb. Have 2 HD: hda, hdb
2. Disk hdb apparently failed. Had message when vi invoked:
something like "no swap space available; write error" and it went
downhill from there, to the point where boot doesn't complete. I
*don't* think I have a swap problem; more likely the disk fried
or other hardware problem. Rescue diskette boots ok but no
help otherwise (Am I missing something?).

I'd like to:

Recover about 1GB of important non-system files from
hdb on /home and recover my installation or just re-install on hdb.


.......I'm looking for a strategy to recover the files.......

hda is available (not used in RH installation; it has old RH 7.2 partitions;
I want to put FreeBSD on it after crash problem is solved).

These seem like choices:

......Without recovering system....
Move files to hda using some method?
What if hda isn't viable - can I partition it without a working system?
I have a DDS drive that works; that would be a good option, but
Rescue Mode from RH CDROM doesn't recognize tape devices,
even though /dev/* is there.

.... Install 'temp' system on hda ....
Install RH on hda, then try to move hdb files to hda, then
reinstall on hdb? (For this, how do I make hdb partitions & files
readable?) I do need to reinstall on the larger hdb. Obviously,
I need to check its health after 'temp' installation on hda.

Thanks for any guidance!

PS: If suggestions include system utilities like dd or fdisk, please
suggest main "do" and "do not" things like cmd args. Man pages
are on cdrom but I don't want to shoot my foot off.

--

"...it will be the year of VoIP. What does that really mean?"
Answer from posting on slasdot.org:

Giant, wheezing, pus-oozing corporations pull themselves up the
stairs and through the open door of the "place where great ideas
are discussed(tm)" whereupon they recline upon the new
technology with their shit-caked, impossibly fat asses and proceed
to absorb every last molecule of joy out of the room to the tune
of buzzing horseflies the size of dinette sets and ROI estimates.

Thanks to all... for all the overflowing volume of magnanimous
generous replies... I am over, er, underwhelmed.

Success:

Since hda was viable (old RH7.2 install),

1. had to change BIOS at pwr up to put cdrom first
2. boot cdrom
(kind of a mystery why hdb would be mounted on cdrom boot)
then

% mkdir /mnt/hda3 # mount point for / (hda3)
% mount -o rw /dev/hda3 /mnt/hda3 # mount hda
% mkdir /mnt/hda3/me/dest # create dest. dir to recover files to
% cp -r /home/me/* /mnt/hda3/me/dest # cp from hdb to hda

.... change BIOS to boot hda (using <F2> on pwr up)
.... and boot ...

% cd dest
% tar cvf /dev/st0 ./* # ...and, viola.... to tape

Now, to pack a bunch of C4 into hdb and mail it to... ;-)



"agathon" <muqawwatREMOVETHIS@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:btCdnTyw6aH_kGaiRVn-vw@comcast.com...
> Greetings,
>
> Note, I can ls and navigate through /home directories if
> I boot cdrom.
>
> 1. Running RH 8.0 on disk hdb. Have 2 HD: hda, hdb
> 2. Disk hdb apparently failed. Had message when vi invoked:
> something like "no swap space available; write error" and it went
> downhill from there, to the point where boot doesn't complete. I
> *don't* think I have a swap problem; more likely the disk fried
> or other hardware problem. Rescue diskette boots ok but no
> help otherwise (Am I missing something?).
>
> I'd like to:
>
> Recover about 1GB of important non-system files from
> hdb on /home and recover my installation or just re-install on hdb.
>
>
> ......I'm looking for a strategy to recover the files.......
>
> hda is available (not used in RH installation; it has old RH 7.2 partitions;
> I want to put FreeBSD on it after crash problem is solved).
>
> These seem like choices:
>
> ......Without recovering system....
> Move files to hda using some method?
> What if hda isn't viable - can I partition it without a working system?
> I have a DDS drive that works; that would be a good option, but
> Rescue Mode from RH CDROM doesn't recognize tape devices,
> even though /dev/* is there.
>
> .... Install 'temp' system on hda ....
> Install RH on hda, then try to move hdb files to hda, then
> reinstall on hdb? (For this, how do I make hdb partitions & files
> readable?) I do need to reinstall on the larger hdb. Obviously,
> I need to check its health after 'temp' installation on hda.
>
> Thanks for any guidance!
>
> PS: If suggestions include system utilities like dd or fdisk, please
> suggest main "do" and "do not" things like cmd args. Man pages
> are on cdrom but I don't want to shoot my foot off.
>
> --
>
> "...it will be the year of VoIP. What does that really mean?"
> Answer from posting on slasdot.org:
>
> Giant, wheezing, pus-oozing corporations pull themselves up the
> stairs and through the open door of the "place where great ideas
> are discussed(tm)" whereupon they recline upon the new
> technology with their shit-caked, impossibly fat asses and proceed
> to absorb every last molecule of joy out of the room to the tune
> of buzzing horseflies the size of dinette sets and ROI estimates.
>
>