cameron@symcom.math.uiuc.edu ( Cameron Smith) (04/01/91)
I have an optical disk that won't mount. I don't think the problem is my optical *drive*, for two reasons: (1) other optical disks mount just fine, and (2) I had gotten occasional ECC errors with this optical disk (and only this one) for about 1 1/2 weeks before it became unusable. Naturally, this is the one most crucial disk I have, with all my most valuable archives on it. Any suggestions on how I may recover the files (or any portion of them) would be MOST GRATEFULLY received! Is there (for example) a way that I can forcibly mount the disk as a "raw" file and somehow "stream" the files off of it? I am an experienced UNIX *user*, but have learned only the minimum about system administration. I *do* know how to use awk, tar, and such. If you can help me, I'll be forever in your debt!!! Thanks in advance. --Cameron Smith cameron@midd.cc.middlebury.edu (please reply to this address) (I will wait 1 week, then summarize all helpful responses) P.S. I had every intention of backing the thing up when I saw the first ECC error, but I didn't have enough hard disk space to copy more than about 10Mb at a time, and 25 optical disk swaps seemed like a good thing to put off :-( . Moreover, the thought of "de-commissioning" a $150 OD cartridge didn't thrill me either -- and still doesn't. :-( :-( I thought these things were supposed to last into the next century! I thought it was only the DRIVES that we were supposed to replace annually! ( 1/2 :-) ) Has this happened to anyone else?