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Use an advanced recovery mode in DiskWarrior
Authored by: jiclark on Aug 01, '06 12:34:19PM

There is a *lot* to DW that is undocumented...

I recently tried to help a client with a very dodgy G5. When booted from the DW CD, I got the message that the directory was too badly damaged to repair, but to contact Alsoft support for help with more options. Called them, got a message to leave my number and they would call back, which they did within a half hour (which impressed me as well, since the message said it could be several hours). I wish I had written down the details, but the tech had me do something like hold down cmd-option, and that resulted in a new menu item that generated a code. When I gave the code to the tech, he gave me back a password, and the program then generated something like a text file of the directory. I emailed that file to him, and the next day he was able to walk me through another code/password process that then allowed me to rebuild the directory. It was amazing! Don't ever again assume that things are hopeless before calling Alsoft Tech Support, or at least trying the hint above.

I will say though, that I don't believe the Scavenge command necessarily does something *more thorough* than a normal rebuild. I think it just allows you to take a chance on fixing a really bunged up directory that otherwise might not be fixable. Obviously, I'm not sure about this. Maybe we'll get lucky and someone from Alsoft will chime in with some background info!

Thanks for the great hint though.



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Use an advanced recovery mode in DiskWarrior
Authored by: lewsmind on Aug 02, '06 07:23:11AM
I think this is insane. Secret codes and passwords.

Are the tools just too dangerous for us to use without calling tech support?

Actually its probably just too complicated. At least now I know that I have one last thing to try before giving up.

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Use an advanced recovery mode in DiskWarrior
Authored by: Zeitkind on Aug 03, '06 12:46:38AM

Well, don't know, but a bad directory might lead to lost data easily. If a repair program "makes the wrong decision" at the wrong time, you might get an empty drive - with no errors, but also no files left - Symantecs DiskDoctor was quite good at this. DW might have a kind of internal halt-procedure to hinder itself from repairing "too much" but leaves the user open to more complex decisions with help from the tech support before giving up.



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