Re: SuperDuper And A Damaged Directory

Fred Moore <fmoore@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Umm, I'm not so sure, Richard. Kurt says 'corrupted directory', but not
> specifics as to what the corruption actually is. If, for example, he has
> some crosslinked files, especially since his system hasn't
> self-destructed yet, SuperDuper!, or any other backup utility, could
> easily copy disk sectors from one file into another, producing garbage
> you wouldn't find until it's too late. The new directory would be
> correct, but the data would be hosed.

Hmm. I'm not sure that a simple cross-link could end up causing "new"
garbage that isn't already there, but

1. I could be wrong (and don't feel like taking the time to look into
the low-level stuff in enough detail to be sure).

2. I certainly agree that no backup utility is likely to repair any such
damage.

I guess I was assuming that the corruption was limited to one directory
that could be replaced with a "fresh" one from elsewhere, but had an
impact limited to that directory. I agree that assumption isn't rock
solid.

[describes doing a reinstall in conjunction with copying some things
back from a backup]

> Any flaws in this approach?

Probably work ok. But you just mentioned the system stuff and his home
dir. That isn't everything. In particular, that doesn't include apps
(typically in /Applications) or anything else that might be installed
elsewhere (such as fink stuff in /sw). Need to also do something about
them, and reinstalling can be a bother if you have lots of apps. Also,
apps occasionally drop little pieces of themselves elsewhere (such as
/Library/Preferences or a few other system places). I'd worry about
missing pieces if you just dragged the app from a backup of
/Applications). Probably work with many apps, but I wouldn't count on it
working with all of them.

Of course, the safest thing to do, if possible insidious corruption of
the disk (and thus of any backup) is of concern, is to reinstall all
apps from scratch. But that can be a PITA. Have to do the tradeoff of
how much pain it is versus what the odds of problems caused by the
corruption are.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain| experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: SuperDuper And A Damaged Directory
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    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: VFP open table corruption
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  • Re: odd LX error with z.exe
    ... File corruption is not all that likely, ... executables are extremely rare unless you have failing hardware. ... NE format is used by 16-bit apps. ...
    (comp.os.os2.misc)
  • Re: Copying Tables
    ... copy of my tables in another database on a different machine. ... Should I use transferdatabase to get the info into the backup ... "Corruption will only manifest itesl ... want a transaction by tranaction copy of my database so that I ...
    (microsoft.public.access.formscoding)
  • Re: Copying Tables
    ... copy of my tables in another database on a different machine. ... Should I use transferdatabase to get the info into the backup ... "Corruption will only manifest itesl ... want a transaction by tranaction copy of my database so that I ...
    (microsoft.public.access.formscoding)