Device-Device recoveries

Device to device recoveries are a little bit more difficult than device to file recoveries. The main process is the same, but:

[Warning]Warning

You must be *absolutely* sure that the device you're recovering to is really the device you intend to recover to!

Sadly, it often happens that people make a mistake at this point, and overwrite important data. Make sure that you use the Disk Information Window to double and triple check that the device you're recovering to is the right one. Do NOT continue until you're absolutely sure.

If you need to select a device that DDRescue-GUI hasn't detected, you can select your own destination like this on Linux:

Figure 4.1. Manually selecting an output device (Linux)

Manually selecting an output device (Linux)


Continue, and navigate to /dev.

Figure 4.2. Navigating to /dev on Linux

Navigating to /dev on Linux


[Note]Note

You may need to select "Show All Files/Devices" in the corner of the file dialog to find what you're looking for.

If you do select a device or an existing file as your destination, the GUI will warn you like this:

Figure 4.3. Confirming your destination (Linux)

Confirming your destination (Linux)


Figure 4.4. Confirming your destination (Windows)

Confirming your destination (Windows)


[Note]Note

On macOS, use the "Enter Custom Path" option to achieve this with a text entry box. Make sure you don't enable the "Read backwards" option for this, because ddrescue will be unable to determine the size of your device.

Figure 4.5. Confirming your destination (Mac)

Confirming your destination (Mac)


After this point, follow the instructions as usual, making sure the "Overwrite output file/disk" option is left enabled. This leads us quite nicely on to the next topic.