Data recovery

5 Tips To Speed Up Linux Software Raid Rebuilding And Re-syncing

last updated in Categories Data recovery, Hardware, Linux, Storage

It is no secret that I am a pretty big fan of excellent Linux Software RAID. Creating, assembling and rebuilding small array is fine. But, things started to get nasty when you try to rebuild or re-sync large size array. You may get frustrated when you see it is going to take 22 hours to rebuild the array. You can always increase the speed of Linux Software RAID 0/1/5/6 reconstruction using the following five tips.

Linux Convert ext3 to ext4 File system

last updated in Categories CentOS, Data recovery, Linux, Linux desktop, Linux distribution, RedHat/Fedora Linux, Storage, Suse Linux, Sys admin, Tips, Troubleshooting, Tuning, Ubuntu Linux

Some time ago ext4 was released and available for Linux kernel. ext4 provides some additional benefits and perforce over ext3 file system. You can easily convert ext3 to ext4 file system. The next release of Fedora, 11, will default to the ext4 file system unless serious regressions are seen. In this quick tutorial you will learn about converting ext3 to ext4 file system.

Seagate Barracuda: 1.5TB Hard Drive Launched

last updated in Categories Business, data center, Data recovery, File system, Hardware, Linux, Linux desktop, Storage, Sys admin, UNIX

Wow, this is a large size desktop hard disk for storing movies, tv shows, music / mp3s, and photos. You can also load multiple operating systems using vmware or other software for testing purpose. This hard disk comes with 5 year warranty and can transfer at 300MB/s. But, How reliable is the 1.5TB hard disk?

Download of the Day: OpenSSH Server 5.0 ( security fix release )

last updated in Categories Data recovery, Howto, Linux, Networking, OpenBSD, Security, UNIX

OpenSSH Logo
One of the most popular remote server management service has just released security fix version. This version avoid possible hijacking of X11-forwarded connections by refusing to listen on a port unless all address families bind successfully. You can download OpenSHH Server from official project web site or wait for your distro to release updated version.

Linux Create Incremental Backups Using FlyBack GUI Time Machine Backup Software

last updated in Categories Backup, Data recovery, Gnome, Howto, Linux, Linux desktop

This is an excellent backup utility for new Linux user.

Apple’s Time Machine is a great feature in their OS, and Linux has almost all of the required technology already built in to recreate it. This is a simple GUI to make it easy to use.

Time Machine, like many backup utilities, creates incremental backups of files which can be restored at a later date. It also supports limited restoration of files within applications that are specifically programmed to use Time Machine’s functionality.
FlyBack: a Time Machine backup utility for Linux
(Fig. 01: Linux FlyBack Software in Action)

Download and Installation instructions

=> FlyBack – Apple’s Time Machine for Linux (via Bernaz’s Weblog)

Clonezilla Ghost Like Linux Partition or Disk Clone Software

last updated in Categories Data recovery, Download of the day, File system, Hardware, Howto, Linux, Linux desktop, UNIX, Windows, Windows server

You can easily clone single hard disk or partition using netcat and your own network. However, software such as Clonezilla offers a partition or disk clone software similar to Ghost. It saves and restores only used blocks in hard drive.

Norton Ghost is popular proprietary commercial software. It is slow and takes lots of time to clone system. There is also Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition with multicasting and fast cloning system.

However, Clonezilla is a free, open source, multitasking and multi operating system software. With DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot in Linux [DRBL] provides a diskless or systemless environment for client machines) and network boot enabled client computers, the only thing you have to prepare is a Clonezilla server. The best thing is ~ you do not even have to prepare a bootable CD or floppy with Partition Image for every client computer.


Clonezilla Ghose like Linux partition or disk clone software in action
(Fig 01: Starting Clonezilla Clone Software)

Clonezilla Ghost like Linux partition or disk clone software
(Fig 02: Clonezilla and DRBL running under Ububtu Linux ~ click to enlarge image)

Download Clonezilla cloning software

=> Visit official project home page to download Clonezilla software.

How to: Setting up a Clonezilla/DRBL server on Ubuntu 7.04

=> A simple howto on setting up Clonezilla/DRBL on Ubuntu Linux

How to: Setting up a Clonezilla/DRBL server on CentOS / Fedora / RHEL

=> A simple documentation to quickly setup up Clonezilla on a PXE server.

Related tutorials / software:

How to Read Ext2 / Ext3 File System From Windows Computer

last updated in Categories CentOS, Data recovery, Debian Linux, Download of the day, Sys admin, Tips, Ubuntu Linux, Windows, Windows server

This software is must if you dual boot between Linux and Windows laptop / desktop computer.

I’ve already written about Explore2fs and other programs to grant read and write access to Linux ext3 partitions / files from a Windows box. There is a new program called Linux Reader which allows safe and quick access to alternative file systems. This program plays the role of a bridge between your Windows and Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems. This easy-to-use tool runs under Windows and allows you to browse Ext2/Ext3 Linux file systems and extract files from there. From the project home page:

First of all, DiskInternals Linux Reader is absolutely free. Secondly, the program provides for read-only access and does not allow you to make records in Ext2/Ext3 file system partitions. This guarantees that the interference in an alterative file system will not affect the work of Linux later. Apart from this, it is necessary to note, that it gives you an opportunity to use common Windows Explorer for extracting data. A preview option for pictures is one more pleasant point, which is worth mentioning.

How to Read Ext2 / Ext3 File System From Windows Computer
(Fig 01: Linux Reader in Action under Windows XP [ image credit diskinternals.com ])

Download Linux Reader

=> Download Linux Reader [diskinternals.com]