[ale] Thumb drive problem

[James Sumners via Ale]

I have a thumb drive that is causing me grief. When I mount the volume on
it the device will eject and reattach after a second or two. If I try to
`dd` the device to an image, a few megabytes will be read and then the
device will eject and reattach. Has anyone experienced this situation
before? If so, were you able to get around it to recover the data? How?

[Boris Borisov via Ale]

What is kernel saying. Any logs. Or whatever controls automount.

Post by James Sumners via Ale
I have a thumb drive that is causing me grief. When I mount the volume on
it the device will eject and reattach after a second or two. If I try to
`dd` the device to an image, a few megabytes will be read and then the
device will eject and reattach. Has anyone experienced this situation
before? If so, were you able to get around it to recover the data? How?
--
James Sumners
http://james.sumners.info/ (technical profile)
http://jrfom.com/ (personal site)
http://haplo.bandcamp.com/ (music)
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[Horkan Smith via Ale]

It's a long shot, but ddrescue / dd_rescue might be able to survive the eject/reattach cycle; or be able to pick back up at the right spot after the re-attach w/ a logfile and the right switches.

later!
horkan

Post by James Sumners via Ale
I have a thumb drive that is causing me grief. When I mount the volume on
it the device will eject and reattach after a second or two. If I try to
`dd` the device to an image, a few megabytes will be read and then the
device will eject and reattach. Has anyone experienced this situation
before? If so, were you able to get around it to recover the data? How?
--
James Sumners
http://james.sumners.info/ (technical profile)
http://jrfom.com/ (personal site)
http://haplo.bandcamp.com/ (music)
_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo

[TheSmokintbird via Ale]

Have you tried more than one computer?
How about an OTG cable on your phone?

If you are seeing the same problem with multiple computers...

I would personally try throwing it in the freezer for a couple hours to
chill it out.

If it's a heat related problem it might buy you enough time to image, and
if it's a solder or physical board problem it will either work or not, but
shouldn't do the same cycling problem you have seen.

If it still cycles, it is probably the memory controller and will likely
not be recoverable... unless the data is worth the several hundred dollars
it would cost to pay for data recovery (myharddrivedied.com)

Smokintbird

Keybase.io/smokintbird

"...better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove
all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

[James Sumners via Ale]

Not able to try another computer right now, but will as soon as I can. I
fear it is the controller :-/

Post by TheSmokintbird via Ale
Have you tried more than one computer?
How about an OTG cable on your phone?
If you are seeing the same problem with multiple computers...
I would personally try throwing it in the freezer for a couple hours to
chill it out.
If it's a heat related problem it might buy you enough time to image, and
if it's a solder or physical board problem it will either work or not, but
shouldn't do the same cycling problem you have seen.
If it still cycles, it is probably the memory controller and will likely
not be recoverable... unless the data is worth the several hundred dollars
it would cost to pay for data recovery (myharddrivedied.com)
Smokintbird
Keybase.io/smokintbird
"...better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove
all doubt." Abraham Lincoln
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Ale mailing list
https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo

[James Sumners via Ale]

Finally made it home where I have access to more computers. It seems the
thumb drive no longer works in USB 3.0 "Super Speed" mode. I attached it to
an old USB 2.0 port and was able to successfully clone the drive via `dd`.
Whew!

Two things learned during this:

1. Try a USB 2.0 port if you experience this early ejection issue.
2. Disks "encrypted" via macOS's Disk Utility can be cloned via `dd
if=<drive> of=file.dmg` and then mounted to get around the encryption. Not
cool.

Post by James Sumners via Ale
Not able to try another computer right now, but will as soon as I can. I
fear it is the controller :-/

Post by TheSmokintbird via Ale
Have you tried more than one computer?
How about an OTG cable on your phone?
If you are seeing the same problem with multiple computers...
I would personally try throwing it in the freezer for a couple hours to
chill it out.
If it's a heat related problem it might buy you enough time to image, and
if it's a solder or physical board problem it will either work or not, but
shouldn't do the same cycling problem you have seen.
If it still cycles, it is probably the memory controller and will likely
not be recoverable... unless the data is worth the several hundred dollars
it would cost to pay for data recovery (myharddrivedied.com)
Smokintbird
Keybase.io/smokintbird
"...better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove
all doubt." Abraham Lincoln
_______________________________________________
Ale mailing list
https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo

--
James Sumners
http://james.sumners.info/ (technical profile)
http://jrfom.com/ (personal site)
http://haplo.bandcamp.com/ (music)

[James Sumners via Ale]

Post by James Sumners via Ale
2. Disks "encrypted" via macOS's Disk Utility can be cloned via `dd
if=<drive> of=file.dmg` and then mounted to get around the encryption. Not
cool.

This was wrong. I forgot that I had the password stored in the system
keychain on the computer I tested the image with. One thing to note,
though, is that to mount such an image you must do it via the `hdid`
utility like so: `hdid -nomount image.dmg`.

[Jim Kinney via Ale]

Thanks for clarifying! I was about to go in a blind panic as work has 2 dozen encrypted mac laptops and 1 was recently stolen and had sensitive data on it.

On Fri, Oct 19, 2018 at 6:10 PM, James Sumners

Post by James Sumners via Ale
2. Disks "encrypted" via macOS's Disk Utility can be cloned via `dd
if=<drive> of=file.dmg` and then mounted to get around the

encryption. Not

Post by James Sumners via Ale
cool.

This was wrong. I forgot that I had the password stored in the system
keychain on the computer I tested the image with. One thing to note,
though, is that to mount such an image you must do it via the `hdid`
utility like so: `hdid -nomount image.dmg`.

[James Sumners via Ale]

Sorry about that. It’s been a long week.

Post by Jim Kinney via Ale
Thanks for clarifying! I was about to go in a blind panic as work has 2
dozen encrypted mac laptops and 1 was recently stolen and had sensitive
data on it.

Post by James Sumners via Ale

Post by James Sumners via Ale
2. Disks "encrypted" via macOS's Disk Utility can be cloned via `dd
if=<drive> of=file.dmg` and then mounted to get around the encryption. Not
cool.

This was wrong. I forgot that I had the password stored in the system
keychain on the computer I tested the image with. One thing to note,
though, is that to mount such an image you must do it via the `hdid`
utility like so: `hdid -nomount image.dmg`.

--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. All tyopes are thumb related
and reflect authenticity.

[TheSmokintbird via Ale]

Thanks for the tip!

USB can be flaky sometimes, you never know how it'll fail!


Christopher Atkinson
Maximum Technology Solutions
770-866-3398
***@maximumtechnologysolutions.com
Keybase.io/smokintbird

"...better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove
all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

Post by James Sumners via Ale

Post by James Sumners via Ale
2. Disks "encrypted" via macOS's Disk Utility can be cloned via `dd
if=<drive> of=file.dmg` and then mounted to get around the encryption. Not
cool.

This was wrong. I forgot that I had the password stored in the system
keychain on the computer I tested the image with. One thing to note,
though, is that to mount such an image you must do it via the `hdid`
utility like so: `hdid -nomount image.dmg`.