ddrescue and dd_rescue are different. Â Biggest difference is with dd_rescue you can pipe the output over SSH to another host. Â This is why I prefer using dd_rescue more… However when a disk is having issues, it’s best to use ddrescue as it will make every possible attempt to retrieve the data off that damaged disk…
dd_rescue /dev/sda1 – | bzip2 > /some/path/filename.bz2
dd_rescue /dev/sda1 – | ssh root@somehost ” cat – > /some/path/filename.img”
Haven’t done this in a while, but got to fix my mothers computer this evening and needed to reset her login password to Windows.
1). Â Download System Rescue CD or Partition Magic
2). Burn & Boot computer off that CD. Leave everything defaulted, just hit enter when prompted.
3). Â At prompt, you will need to find out what partition Windows is installed on. Â Default is probably /dev/sda1, however this one wasn’t . Â Use fdisk -l to find the valid disk device names, chances are if it’s not the sda1, it will be sda2
4). Â % ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows
5). cd /mnt/windows/Windows/System32/config
6). chntpw -l SAM Â ( this will list all the valid users on Windows)
7). Â chntpw -u Administrator SAM
select 1 for “Clear (blank) user password  <enter>
type y to write changes to disk and that’s it.
8). Â Might not be necessary, but it’s not going to hurt and not doing it just may hurt the disk..
% cd ; umount /mnt/windows
Remove CD and reboot. Â Windows should no longer prompt you for password…Â
9). Â Good idea to re-add your password in Windows.
