This is it! e2extract - extracts lost files and recreates directory structure from information obtained by the directory inodes, such as the original file name and location. recurses through type 1 files (normal files) and type 2 files (directories), recreating them in a directory somewhere else.

I can recover the directory structure complete with filenames!
DSC is going back online in 7 days

I wrote a tool called stat_inodes in perl - footsteps of unix necromancy. that attempts to triage what's still on an ext2fs drive. It uses istat and icat from the new coroners toolkit (TASK) -- it creates a garganguan huge map showing what you've still got. It calculates the block numbers associated with inodes, wether the inode is allocated, the size of the information referenced in the inode, the number of blocks allocated related to the inode (each block is 1x your blocksize), the number of links (whatever thats for), and finally what the program guesses the block to contain, using "file magic"

* the old root drive is completely fucked up,
  see for yourself.
* fsck reports that there are 255000 files on
  the filesystem, but when you mount the drive,
  there are 9841 files reported via find . | wc -l,
  meaning that 240000 files (or trees) are
  sitting in limbo inaccessable.
* this basicly means that the drive requires
  unix necromancy
* skeleton traffic has been redirected..
* that means i'm holding onto the mail
  and you'd have to bribe me to see it
* all the content is 'gone' but still there,
  somewhere.
* nobody gives a damn
* everythings gone - even the pictures from
  99 to 2001
* starting from scratch is the only remaining
  option..? or is it?
* so much for ghosts
* e2salvage might make a difference..
  i got it from the BBC mini-distro.
* there is definitely a will

..slf@dreamscape.org
  (925-895-1500)

root@milk:/hoho# e2fsck -V
e2fsck 1.32 (09-Nov-2002)
        Using EXT2FS Library version 1.32, 09-Nov-2002
root@milk:/mnt# e2fsck -v -f sdd1.backup
  [snip snip..]
  260060 inodes used (11%)
    9104 non-contiguous inodes (3.5%)
         # of inodes with ind/dind/tind blocks: 16881/317/1
 3509621 blocks used (78%)
       0 bad blocks
       0 large files

  233832 regular files
   16791 directories
     965 character device files
    3409 block device files
      11 fifos
     967 links
    4949 symbolic links (4947 fast symbolic links)
      94 sockets
--------
  261018 files
root@milk:/mnt# mount -t ext2 -o loop,ro sdd1.backup /hoho
root@milk:/mnt# ls /hoho
lost+found
root@milk:/mnt# cd /hoho
root@milk:/hoho# find . | wc -l
   9751
root@milk:/hoho#

This doesn't make sense at all. There are 233832 files and
16791 directories, only 9751 files show up after doing
repeated fsck's. The fucking information is there.

I'm evaluating these assumptions..
   A) some of these decisions can break fsck and cause it
      to halt if they arent chosen
   B) things that say 'clear' may not nessicarily be a good
      idea.
   
The following decisions were made via fsck -y..

dreamscape:/web# zgrep "\? " dsc_is_fucked.txt.gz | exclude \
	"\?\?\?"|nonum |seen|sort -n
   1:/lost+found not found.  Create? yes
   1:Bad block inode has illegal block(s).  Clear? yes
   1:Clear inode? yes
   1:Inode # has illegal block(s).  Clear? yes
   1:Inodes that were part of a corrupted orphan linked
     list found.  Fix? yes
   1:Reserved inode #  has bad mode.
     Clear? yes
   1:Reserved inode #  has bad mode.
     Clear? yes
   1:Reserved inode #  has bad mode.
     Clear? yes
   1:Root inode not allocated.  Allocate? yes
   1:Special (device/socket/fifo) inode # has
     non-zero size. Fix? yes
   2:Root inode is not a directory.  Clear? yes
   2:Salvage? yes
   8:No room in lost+found directory.  Expand? yes
   18:Unattached zero-length inode #.  Clear? yes
   76:Deleted inode # has zero dtime.  Fix? yes
   79:Inode # has compression flag set on filesystem
      without compression support.  Clear? yes
   95:Clear HTree index? yes
   110:Inode #, i_size is #, should be #.  Fix? yes
   111:Inode # has imagic flag set.  Clear? yes
   119:Inode # is in use, but has dtime set.  Fix? yes
   135:Entry  has deleted/unused inode #.  Clear? yes
   152:Inode #, i_blocks is #, should be #.  Fix? yes
   275:Clear? yes
   880:Clone duplicate/bad blocks? yes
   2141:Connect to /lost+found? yes
   3885:Inode # ref count is #, should be #.  Fix? yes
   5095:Fix? yes
   dreamscape:/web#
   
dreamscape:/web# grep s\/ nonum
    s/\d+/\#/g;
    s/Entry \'.*?\' in .*? \(\#\)/Entry /g;