Tough interview questions.

Fri Aug 13 13:16:44 PDT 2004

hi ya mark

since i won't get hired anyway...

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004, Mark C. Langston wrote:

> A machine for which you're responsible has suffered a catostrophic disk
> failure.  Backups are not available.  Reinstallation is not an option.

i'd say ... important lesson ... make backups ..
	- if reinstall is not an option .. it means the box is in
	a far away colo ... 
	by not allowing reinstalling, it keeps the data intact
	which is a good thing

> Explain the steps you'd take to recover the data on the system.

i assume that you're implying that the disk still spins ...

- move the disk to another pc  or boot off a standalone disk
  and copy data off the "dead" ( but spinning ) disk

- last resort is to take the non-spinning disk to a disk-repair place
  and pay their $100/MB to recover the data of the 10GB disk ( $10K )
  ( one needs nice fancy toys w/ bunny suits to look at the platters )

if moving the disk or booting off something else is not permitted, in the
far away colo, i still think one is s.o.l... for not having backups

c ya
alvin