Hello everybody.

I will begin working on the Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix alpha release next week.

Please make any requests for packages or features before the 25th so that I can try to get them into the next release.

That means if you are fond of a particular data recovery or forensics application that is not already included in the Rescue-Remix, speak up!

Cheers!

Andrew

Lance from pendrivelinux.com has created a tool for Windows users to put Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix onto a USB flash drive. To create a Live USB Rescue Remix system without it, Windows-only users need do some extra work and download both the Desktop CD and the Rescue Remix to run the Desktop CDs USB creator.

This saves some users a lot of time and effort. The instructions are found here at pendrivelinux.com.

Thanks Lance!

Thanks to everyone who help bring a few issues to my attention. Namely, the fact that the ubuntu-rescue-remix-tools metapackage included a dependency that could not be resolved and that the iso image would not work properly when using GRUB2 to boot it. The iso image still worked fine with the regular USB creator, though.

To install the ubuntu-rescue-remix metapackage on any Ubuntu system (including live USB systems), add the following software source:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/arzajac/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Then authenticate this software source by runing the following command:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys BDFD6D77

Then, install the "ubuntu-rescue-remix-tools" package.

This can be done on a live USB Ubuntu desktop. So you can have a full data recovery toolkit on top of your regular Ubuntu graphical interface (GUI). That's because if you create your USB live system with persistent data, you can install packages and they will still be there the next time you boot the USB drive.

Step 1, create a live USB system:  read more »

Version 9.10 (Karmic Koala) of the very best Free-Libre Open-Source data recovery software toolkit based on Ubuntu is out.

This release of Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix features up-to-date versions of the most powerful free/libre open-source data recovery software including GNU ddrescue version 1.11, Photorec, LVM2, and GNU-Fdisk.

*** Download the live CD/USB ***

The live Remix provides a full shell environment. You can download it here:

ubuntu-rescue-remix-9-10-revision1.iso (2009/11/05)

0e7a1486e757df5b18f2b2982f84fa0f ubuntu-rescue-remix-9-10-revision1.iso

This iso image is compatible with the excellent USB Startup Disk Creator that is included with Ubuntu since 9.04 (System - Administration - USB Startup Disk Creator). Use it to put the Rescue Remix along with a persistent home on any USB flash drive.  read more »

I had blogged a long time ago about using the OLPC XO for data recovery. I bought one as part of the give-one get-one program and was thrilled with it for 31 days.

On the day following the expiry of the warranty, my XO's keyboard failed. I put it on the shelf, not wanting to spend any money to fix it. Only recently have I discovered a fix for the "Sticky Keys" problem.

The problem is that some keys such as the left ALT or Control key get stuck and cause the desktop and keyboard to behave funny. The fix involves using thin strips of electrical tape to compensate for the lack of electrical insulation under the keypad. But the photo on the official site does not show the correct layer of the keyboard stripped away:

Stuck Keys (wrong): http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Image:Stuck_keys_fix.jpg

The photos on this blog show the proper result (Two layers of membrane need to be pulled back):
http://sparkyxo.blogspot.com/2008/08/sparky-gets-keyboard-fix.html

Proper Fix: http://sparkyxo.blogspot.com/2008/08/sparky-gets-keyboard-fix.html

So, It's like I just got it again! With an updated and fixed XO, I found this page and installed Ubuntu on a 2 Gig SD card and it runs perfectly. Next, I installed the Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix-Tools metapackage from the Intrepid PPA Repository (deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/arzajac/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main) and started recovering data.

For CPU and memory intensive tasks such as writing big files to an NTFS filesystem, or file-carving, it's slow. But not unreasonably so. For imaging faulty drives, it's on par with any other system. You can image roughly one Gig per minute using two external USB-connected drives (one source and one destination). The limiting factor in how long it takes to image a drive is related to hard disk performance and not CPU power.

The very small electrical requirements of this machine are ideal for use with a UPS. In case of a power failure, you don't want your last-chance recovery effort to be ended by running out of power. I will be testing how long this setup can run off my UPS.

I've switched from Google ads to Ad Bard.

The setup could not have been easier and the performance seems to be top notch. I think the content of the ads will be much more interesting to Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix.org users than some of the Google ads.

Nice!

I doubt it will ever be in the top ten, but still... It's nice to be listed.

Better late than never!

Version 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) of the very best Free-Libre Open-Source data recovery software toolkit based on Ubuntu is out.

This release of Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix features up-to-date versions of the most powerful free/libre open-source data recovery software including GNU ddrescue version 1.10, Photorec, LVM2, etc...

You can download it here:

ubuntu-rescue-remix-9.04.iso

4c40d446111c0f559f354ee5c9239e38  ubuntu-rescue-remix-9.04.iso

This iso image is compatible with the excellent USB Startup Disk Creator that is included with Ubuntu since 8.04 (System - Administration - USB Startup Disk Creator).  Use it to put the Rescue Remix along with a persistent home on any USB flash drive.

The live Remix provides a full shell environment. If you prefer to work in a graphical environment, a metapackage is available which will install all the data recovery and forensics tools onto your current Ubuntu system.  To do so, add the following archive to your software channels:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/arzajac/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Then, install the "ubuntu-rescue-remix-tools" package.

For help on recovering your lost data, visit the community documentation Data Recovery page, or ask on the ubuntu-rescue-remix forums.

If you want to expand the Rescue Remi's capabilities and features, please join in its development.  Any and all help is welcome!

Andrew

I recovered 130 digital pictures from a failed hard drive. The drive contained several thousand pictures of my client's family before it failed. Every single photo they took of their kids since their kids were born was on it.

Can you imagine never seeing your kids' baby pictures again? It's not like losing a work-related document; those can be redone. Photos are pieces of past moments. It adds to the quality of our lives to be able to relive those past moments. Not to mention the ability to share those moments with those who weren't there.

This was not the first time I have had to break the bad news to someone. As rewarding as it is to save someone's files from the brink of oblivion, telling them it's hopeless puts a serious dent in my mood.

If everyone did proper backups, I would be out of the Data Recovery business. If you've been putting off running such a backup, stop whatever you are doing and backup those files now.

It's holiday time and I though I'd revise the Ubuntu bread recipe.

I originally posted the recipe for Ubuntu bread on the Ubuntuforums cookbook thread in 2005. I was pleased when the recipe made its way into the official Ubuntu book.

Since then, I have experimented and learned a few new things about breads. I think the original recipe needs to be a little easier to make.

I have updated the recipe and improved upon the technique. The original recipe calls for a stiff dough that results in a very nice shape, but it is requires a lot of work to make and to shape. It also requires a little experimentation to obtain optimal cooking temperature and time. If you cook it too fast, you end up with a burned crust and an uncooked inside. If you cook it too slowly, you end up with a dry bread.

This dough is wetter and results in a dough that doesn't hold its shape as well, but it results in a dough that is much easier to handle and cook. I prefer the taste, too. It's chewier.

This dough is made without any kneading. So anybody can make it with ease. No special kitchen equipment is needed.

You may also make and shape the dough on one day and put it into the refrigerator. You can keep it there for up to three days before you bake it. Delaying the rising like this will improve the flavor of the bread and prolong the shelf life of the finished product. This may sound more complicated, but it is actually a lot easier to do. You can do most of the work right now and put it in the fridge until about three hours before you want to eat the bread.

Please make some and share it with others!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of yeast

1 cup of warm water.

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons salt (I use sea salt)

4 cups unbleached flour (I use Canadian all-purpose flour which contains high quality protein. U.S. all-purpose flour has less protein, so perhaps U.S. residents should use a mixture of all-purpose and bread flour)

Optional: 2 teaspoons of honey

Method:

Put the yeast into the warm water. Mix slightly and let it sit while you gather the other ingredients. Crack one egg into a bowl. Whisk it together. Remove about two tablespoons of it to a small bowl. Cover the small bowl and store it in the refrigerator. This will be used to brush the bread after it has risen, before it is baked and creates the shiny crust.

Crack the other egg into the bowl and add all the other ingredients. Mix with a spoon until everything is incorporated. It will resemble a shaggy ball of dough that falls apart. Wet your hands so that the dough doesn't stick and squeeze the dough together as if making a snowball. Press your fingers into the center of the ball and fold the dough over itself. You want to spread the dry dough around the wet dough so that it all becomes uniform. This step should take about one minute. It's fine if you do it for longer, but there is no need to. Any dry spots will disappear during the stretching-and-folding.

Let the rough ball of dough rest in a covered bowl in a warm area for 45 minutes. For example, with the oven heat off, the oven light should provide a little bit of warmth to keep the temperature high enough to stimulate the yeast activity.

After 45 minutes, dust the surface of your counter with a little flour and plop the ball of dough onto it. With lightly floured hands, press your fingers into the center of the dough to flatten it out. Don't roll it out since this will remove the gas bubbles. Just use your fingertips. Look for dry spots. Press down on a dry spot to gently massage it down into the counter top. Don't fuss over it, just break it up a little. It will go away.

Pull the dough into a rectangle. Stretch the bottom third of the rectangle down and then up and over the middle part. Stretch the top part up and then down and over the middle. Rotate the dough and repeat the same maneuver. This stretch-and-fold gently develops the gluten which will give your bread a fluffy, chewy texture.

Tuck the sides of the dough underneath to form a ball and put the dough back in the warm place to rise for another 45 minutes. Do a total of three stretch-and-folds with a 45 minute rising period in between (so do two more after the one you just did) and massage out any dry spots. After the third stretch-and-fold, the dough should be soft and fluffy with no more dry spots. It's ready to shape into the Ubuntu circle. Tuck it into a ball and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Roll the dough out into a long piece and cut it into three equal parts. Rub a small drop of oil on each piece to make the dough a little sticky and easy to roll out. Roll each piece out until it's less than 1 inch thick (about 36 inches or 90 cm long).

Dust each rope with flour as you finish rolling it out so that it doesn't stick to the counter. It's a lot easier to braid dusted dough. Braid the three ropes together.

Cut a few centimeters from each end to provide a perfectly shaped braid on both ends. Rub a drop of water on the three tips of one end. Connect the tips from the other end to the humid tips. Try your best to maintain a nice braid. Place the braid onto an oiled cookie sheet and adjust it's shape to be perfectly circular. Stretch out the center to increase the size of the hole in the middle. Take the two end pieces that you cut off and roll them into one long rope; you can wet your hands and squeeze to get them to stick together.

Cut into three ropes and taper one end on each. Roll up each one like a swirl. Place on top of the circle to complete the Ubuntu pattern - use one of them to cover up the spot where the two ends were joined (heh heh).

Alternatively, make a Kubuntu shape. Create three balls with the cut off dough. Flatten the balls into disks. Flatten the edge of the disks more than the middle. Use a kitchen tool to make a cut in the center of the dough. Rotate the disk and make another cut across the first. Make two more cuts. Flip the disk inside-out and free up the points of the gears. Do the same with the other two balls.

Cover with plastic wrap. If you want to make the bread on the same day, let it rise for an hour. If you want to bake the bread another day put it in the fridge immediately - you can delay it like this for up to three days. It will rise a bit for the first few hours in the fridge. 90 minutes before you will want to bake the bread, take it out of the fridge and put it in a warm place.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix a tablespoon of water with the beaten egg you put aside. Just before putting the bread into the oven, use a brush to coat the dough with the egg mixture. Then bake for 35 minutes (30 to 40 minutes). I suggest you cook it on two cookie sheets doubled up (or use a silicone mat) since the oil and sugar will burn fairly quickly.

Let it cool for at least 45 minutes before eating. Resist the temptation to eat it sooner! The bread has not finished baking as a lot of chemical reactions are still happening and the flavor is not at its best until its cooled.

Photos:

Shaggy ball of dough:

Stretch and fold:

The finished dough is very smooth.

Cut the ends off and use them to make the ornaments.

Ubuntu swirls:

Or Kubuntu gears:

Made for sharing!