[afnog] ad0 FAILURE

[Geert Jan de Groot]

> 	YMMV, but I would still suggest doing a backup of the partition BEFORE
> 	running fsck.

Phil's trick is probably best. Something I've had reasonable success with
on non-BSD disks was to put the disk in the fridge (not the freezing
section, just the fridge) for an hour or so, then try to pull data off,
preferrably while booting from a normal, working disk.
Try the procedure first with a normal drive 
("when in doubt, always mount a scratch monkey")

Keep in mind that
- accessing the bad spots probably makes the problem worse very fast,
  so try to grab the data that can be read normally first
- Especially in the African climate, watch out for condensation,
  which will kill the disk instantly. Go gentle with the cooldown.

I've been able to get data off disks just before they became completely
unrecoverable.

And please, start planning on making regular backups and knowing
how to restore them. You know you're there when you can re-build
your data centre with just the tapes (which you keep off-site, yes?), 
a machine, and a working tape drive.

How's the cooling in your machines? Every degree of temperature
drastically lowers the life-span. At the same time, a cool breeze
from a fan goes a long way.

Geert Jan

(and if you don't understand the monkey thing, google it!)