feat(blog): Add ddrescue article

content/blog/2024-12-11-ddrescue.md

@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
++++
+title = "Introduction to ddrescue"
+date = "2024-12-11"
+updated = "2024-12-11"
+[extra]
+authors = ["Ydreniv"]
++++
+
+Let’s suppose one of your friends come to you with a computer issue.
+They’ve got a failing hard drive, and want to recover the data stored on their
+device.
+They are quite worried, as they have important files on it, and it’s their
+only copy.
+Of course, this would never happen to you, because you keep multiple encrypted
+backups of all your data, in multiple place.
+Only a worldwide apocalypse would get you a dataloss.
+So this definitely could *only* happen to a friend, or a family member, but
+not you.
+It would be preposterous to think otherwise.
+
+So anyway, you want to copy the hard-drive.
+You quickly plug it in your computer, mount it and open the file explorer.
+But the mount takes a long time, accessing the files is very slow, and copying
+them does not always work.
+Plus, the [SMART](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S.M.A.R.T.) statistics show
+that this drive has *issues*.
+How do you extract the important data then ?
+By the look of it, the vast majority of the drive sectors are fine, so what
+you’re looking for still exists.
+It’s merely hard to access.
+It’s only a hardware problem.
+
+If you manage to image the drive, you can then either use it as a mounted
+file, or burn it to another drive.
+You could use good old `dd`.
+Maybe this would work.
+But here, with your friend’s disk on its deathbed, you’d like a tool adapted
+for this situation.
+Here comes…
+**[ddrescue](https://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/)**.
+
+`ddrescue` operates on unmounted devices, and will copy a device block by
+block.
+Even better, it has error handling integrated.
+When it cannot read a block, it will either retry or pass it, depending on the
+options you’ve selected.
+And, crucially, it can store its status in a file, meaning that if you stop
+the process, you’ll be able to resume it later.
+This way, you can quickly recover all easily available blocks, while still
+retaining the ability to do several passes on the failing ones.
+
+I’m still a novice in `ddrescue`, so read the [Archlinux wiki
+page](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Disk_cloning#Using_ddrescue) to get
+specific instructions.
+The Archlinux wiki is overall pretty good, and is one of my main source of
+help on Linux, even with other distributions.
+In my experiment, it has been able to recover all the disk’s sectors, except
+for 47 of them.
+I let it run for at least 50 hours I guess (I haven’t counted) over multiple
+sessions.
+I could probably try to make more passes, to eventually recover the full disk,
+but I’m not sure it’s worth it (and even possible).
+
+It’s reassuring to know that I’ve now safeguarded most of the data.
+Now that I have a mostly complete image, I’ve started trying to read them.
+Unfortunately, the missing blocks do prevent me from simply mounting the
+resulting image.
+So I’ve still gotta do some work to actually get what I wanted (copying the
+files to another drive), but at least I know that the current image is safe,
+and that there shouldn’t be further data loss.
+
+So if you’re confronted with data recovery, I recommend giving `ddrescue` a
+look. It’s quite a useful tool !
+

content/ideas.md

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 title = "Ideas"
 template = "ideas.html"
 date = "2022-11-01"
-updated = "2024-12-09"
+updated = "2024-12-12"
 extra = { "theme" = "ideas.css" }
 +++
 
@@ -17,9 +17,12 @@ extra = { "theme" = "ideas.css" }
   I'm not sure such a list would be truly useful, but it would be nice to have
   it, as I currently lack such an overview.
 * Take a look at [IndieWeb](https://indieweb.org/)
+  * This is quite an open-ended task, a bit "unachievable".
+  * I rather need to determine the specific features I want to implement.
 * Learn more about [Microformats](https://indieweb.org/microformats)
   ([Microformats](https://microformats.org/wiki/microformats2))
-  * `h-card` and `h-entry` have been implemented here.
+  * `h-card` and `h-entry` have been implemented here. (`h-card` might not be
+    implemented in every page.)
   * To be implemented on my other static websites
 * Learn about [Micropub](https://indieweb.org/Micropub)
 * Learn about [Webmention](https://indieweb.org/Webmention)
@@ -36,6 +39,7 @@ extra = { "theme" = "ideas.css" }
 * A
   [/feeds](https://marcus.io/blog/making-rss-more-visible-again-with-slash-feeds) page.
 * A standard Zola development base for my websites
+  * I’m not sure this would really be useful.
 * [Documentation about
   self-hosting](https://unknown-artist-selfhost.frama.io/selfhost-wiki/)
 * A `/uses` page, explaining how this website works (Zola, IndieWeb etc)
@@ -48,13 +52,10 @@ extra = { "theme" = "ideas.css" }
 
 * A page using <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans'">Comic Sans</span>.
 * A CLI-like page (green on black).
-* A page with all kinds of blinkies, 80x15 buttons and the like. I'm already
-  collecting some in the footer of this site, but I'd like a page with the
-  ones I make and the other cool I find.
-  * [Web Badges World](https://web.badges.world/) has some nice stuff.
-  * [SH2/Buttons](https://sh2.us/buttons) too
-  * Done [here](@/buttons.md)
 * Buttons for my various websites
+* Make website responsive :
+  * [~ydreniv](#)
+  * [Minis](https://minis.kestrels-and-roses.rocks)
 
 ### Miscellaneous
 
@@ -113,3 +114,17 @@ extra = { "theme" = "ideas.css" }
   Docker reference !
 
 </section>
+
+
+<section>
+
+## Done
+
+* A page with all kinds of blinkies, 80x15 buttons and the like. I'm already
+  collecting some in the footer of this site, but I'd like a page with the
+  ones I make and the other cool I find.
+  * [Web Badges World](https://web.badges.world/) has some nice stuff.
+  * [SH2/Buttons](https://sh2.us/buttons) too
+  * Done [here](@/buttons.md)
+
+</section>