Re: [Bug-ddrescue] It is not enough description for option"-f" on page

[Antonio Diaz Diaz]

Hello Andrey,

Andrey Mikhalevich wrote:
> It is not enough description for option "-f" on page 
> http://www.gnu.org/software/ddrescue/manual/ddrescue_manual.html

You are surely right. Take into account that for ddrescue "overwriting" 
means "filling in the gaps without wiping out the data already rescued", 
instead of "replacing outfile entirely".

I have just released ddrescue-1.19-pre2 with the following description 
of '--force' (the online manual won't be updated until the next stable 
release):

'-f'
'--force'
     Force overwrite of OUTFILE. Needed when OUTFILE is not a regular
     file, but a device or partition. This option is just a safeguard
     to prevent the inadvertent destruction of partitions, and is
     ignored for regular files.


> What will happen if I launch command:   
>      ddrescue -f -n /dev/sda2 /mnt/usbrestoredisk/restorefile ddresc_log_file

Nothing special. As stated above, '-f' is ignored for regular files. 
Other files in /mnt/usbrestoredisk will not be affected at all.


> Will be saved wholeness for restorefile after finish of executing
> ddrescue -f -n /dev/sda2 /mnt/usbrestoredisk/restorefile ddresc_log_file 
> for next stage with "-d" parameter ddrescue -d -f -r1 /dev/sda2 /mnt/usbrestoredisk/restorefile ddresc_log_file ?

I'm not sure I understand your question, but both commands will execute 
normally as if '-f' was not present.


Regards,
Antonio.