Xref: utzoo comp.sys.att:10836 unix-pc.general:6436
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!fernwood!portal!cup.portal.com!thad
From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.att,unix-pc.general
Subject: Re: Ascertaining file name given a HD bad block number on 3B1
Message-ID: <35923@cup.portal.com>
Date: 14 Nov 90 11:12:54 GMT
References: <35622@cup.portal.com>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 44

Seems that with all the other issues and activities recently, I neglected to
post a followup to my query "Ascertaining a file name given a HD block
number."

The solution is actually quite straightforward:

	Brant Cheikes' program ``bf'' (block find, version 1.3, available at
	the osu-cis archive site) returns the inode(s) of files given the
	physical block number, and

	either "ncheck" or "find -inum # -print" will return the filepath/name
	given the inode number.

In my recent situation I again "lucked out" since the block I spared belonged
to an *.o file, so "nothing" was lost.

During the past several years I've only had two blocks "go bad" amongst some 8
systems and have never lost anything critical (knock on wood! :-)

Which brings me to my favorite exhortation (as many have heard before at
various users' groups meetings here in Silicon Valley) and transcribed from
recordings made at some of the meetings:

``	Hard drives WILL fail; the only uncertainty is when, but it is
	guaranteed they WILL fail.

	All things mechanical, be they switches, connectors, sockets, cables,
	or rotating memories, will wear out or self-destruct at the most
	inopportune time in accordance with Murphy's Law and its corollaries.

	Your only defense is to develop a system backup regimen and abide it.
	The one day you neglect your {sysadmin | operator} duty is the day
	your most-valued data develops software rot and bit decay.	

	And let us not also forget the most dangerous command on the {insert
	favorite system name here} is the carriage return; examine what you
	have entered BEFORE flailing away at the RETURN key as most commands
	are NOT retractable.
	...
''

Thad

Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]