12:50 PM
Dear Gemini
Earlier, it captured almost 80% in a short time like I said but it also did around five passes during that first round that would not end. I like what that first round but is there a way to make it only one or two passes as opposed to what it was? It seemed it was not going to stop at five passes. It looked like it was unlimited. Are there flags or ways to make Bill do one full pass through all the bytes and then rest the lasers before continuing?

It seems there might be an invisible line between a max speed like maybe 30M where anything higher might work in some ways but then not work in other ways where problems might happen or it is hard to say. Tho with 30M getting potentially 60% under five minutes, 20M getting possibly up to 80% under ten minutes, and 10M up to 90% under fifteen, and so on.

It is tough to say, there can be many pros and cons for different speeds and settings. With higher speeds, especially if above like 30M it would seem, Bill would skip more often creating more holes in the map. We talked about that issue. Perhaps resetting the map after a pass might reduce or eliminate that issue. So, a side effect like that might be mitigated a bit. That is only one example. There could be many pros and cons as it relates to different settings. And perhaps some remedies too.

But then the next question would be what is the next best round to do.

If Bill captured (rescued) from 0% to 90% at 10M in under 20 minutes in the first round (one full pass via -r0), what might be the next best move for additional rounds in trying to get closer to 99%? Call this part 2 or the Last Mile.

But then another question would be to compare different two-part systems, being A+B=C. A = First Part. B = Second Part. C = 100% of all the bytes of a disc rescued. The first part is the run or opening gambit where Bill attempts rescuing over 70%. The first part could be 1M, 10M, 20M, 30M, etc, assuming it is only one round. For some discs, it might be multiple rounds and multiple modes, worlds, levels, settings, etc, perhaps. But then part 2 being B, depending on what settings are used, part 2 could take potentially many hours or even many many hours. One might wonder how much or how little Part 1 might help and hurt Part 2 as the goal is C.

But to be clear, when I say 30M, I do not mean 30M because Bill did not obey me when I say 10000000000000000000000000M or a crazy number, it does not go at those numbers, it goes at whatever numbers it wants to go which makes talking about 30M or higher confusing as it may not follow what you tell it to do which then makes me wonder how impactful these speed settings might be if Bill ignores them. But I was only simplifying the process. It does not have to be only 2 parts but as many parts as possible. For example, imagine what if it ran at 100M, 30M, 25M, 15M, 10M, 5M, 1M, 500K, 250K, 100K. Those are at least 10 levels. Imagine if each level had -r0 to push Bill to do a full pass and then lower the speed each time. You spoke about overhead. So, a Bill system could have any number of moving parts, like modes, worlds, levels, rounds, chapters, jobs, which represents combinations of different settings, variables, numbers, speeds, options. I prefer Bill to be designed with infinite parts or as many possible. But at the same time, right now, we are only talking about opening moves in an attempt to hit 99%. The remaining 1% might be impossible or might take thousands of rounds. It might take thousands of hours. But my question for you is to run through trillions of combinations, potentially infinite combinations of all of the moving parts, all combinations of these settings that we are talking about and even settings we are not talking about, all of the flags, via any number of rounds, levels, modes, and more. The objective is to try to get as close to 99% rescued as possible. We talked about this thousands of times for years. There is an infinite ways of getting there. But there can be overhead like we talked about. It is challenging designing a universal Bill script that can handle any disc. Gemini wrote thousands of scripts for Bill already. All of this is highly controversial and debatable. It seems the best first move might be the largest possible speeds and clusters. But the follow-up questions would be about what to do after the first round. Because a first round could probably get over 60% or sometimes even over 95% or 99% of all of the bytes. But then the challenge is finding the best formula for additional rounds, levels, etc. Another challenge is when some of my discs are already like 90% rescued or 40% rescued or random percentages and numbers. My desire is a universal Bill script that can continue any disc from 0% to 99% to help any disc get to 100%.

03:41 PM
Dear Gemini
Write me a super universal Bill script for CDs and DVDs. Bill must focus on a strong opening that is -r0 or one pass. Bill should check the map and any info that might help. Bill must focus on the 80-20 rule per round which is to try to do the winning combo each round. Bill can have as many protocol systems as Bill needs. Bill can have as many modes, worlds, levels, chapters, rounds, as Bill needs, but each one must be unique. I prefer Bill remains in scan-focused modes until several full passes via several of the top winning combinations of settings, flags. Be careful of overhead which is something you mentioned earlier relating to the dangers of thousands of like tiers, modes, levels, worlds, rounds, chapters, jobs, runs, passes, mutations, variations, combinations, flags, changes, speeds, clusters, tags, options, settings, etc. The key is find the Goldilocks combo for the first roughly ten or so moves which might rescue over 99% of most discs. Bill should have the ability to continue grinding beyond the opening ten or more moves for the tougher discs, but a strong set of opening moves could in theory help many discs get as close to 99% as possible. That includes a way to turn -d --idirect and other flags like on and off. There are so many flags to consider include error flags. Think about how many modes too because Bill could have any number of modes depending on how you organize all the parts to make each part unique.

07:58 PM
Dear Gemini
You are not addressing the root of the problem, the following is only a symptom, the following had the tray open and then it said it was waiting for the disc to spin while the tray was opened. It closed. It opened. It was in an endless loop. But that is still the symptom. I told you what the real problem was a few minutes ago, but you are currently stuck on this symptom.

08:39 PM
Expand to include unique levels. Bill should have a natural route of highest to lowest settings in trying to best rescue all bytes. Bill should turn the -d --idirect related direct I/O hardware access flags on and off as needed, it is generally better if -d is off for the first few passes through the bytes as that can rescue 70% to 100% of all of the bytes even without -d related flags. Jordan can decide when to turn on -d but only when Bill really needs it. Same thing with other flags too. Bill does not always need all of the flags all of the time. The best combination of flags might rescue 70% to 100% of all the bytes in only a few rounds or in a few minutes even or faster sometimes. Bill must be designed to really rescue 70% to 100% via the best methods before attempting to struggle for the final bytes via whatever means necessary. Take it a step at a time.

Sovereign Reset Protocol
Jordan must reset Bill's map each session and run. But remember that a run is a full pass through all untried bytes. The Sovereign Reset Protocol can help the Phase Protocol. By default, Bill can loop through Scan Modes before graduating to Post-Scan Modes like Trim Mode, Scrape Mode, Crawl Mode, etc. The Sovereign Reset Protocol should be the default procedure even above the The Run Reset idea you mentioned.

Phase Protocol
The Phase Protocol must attempt to run through all remaining non-rescued untried bytes via one -r0 pass through everything not rescued. The default route is to run using the highest settings for maximum speeds, efficiency, effectiveness. For example, one -r0 round might take a disc from 0% rescued to 70% rescued or potentially even 100% rescued. That one round might be one full pass if the round tries every remaining untried byte. One round might equal to one pass (run) if the round happens to run through each byte. One run (pass) might equal to multiple rounds. Each round, level, world, mode, etc, can be unique depending on the combinations of settings, flags.

Trim Protocol
The Trim Protocol is the Target Guard. If the disc is 99%, if all the Scan Modes were already tried, and if stalling for ten minutes or if Bill is out of other options, then switch to Post-Scan Modes like the Trim Mode, Scrape Mode, Crawl Mode, etc. The default route is to try to remain in Scan Modes for as long as possible. But sometimes, some discs might have to switch to Trim Mode even before 99% rescued. But I prefer Bill loops through all the Scan Modes (and sub-modes, phases, jobs, worlds, levels, chapters, rounds, flags, tags, variations, settings, options, speeds, etc) ten times and stalls for an hour before switching to Trim Mode, etc.

02:48 PM
Dear Gemini
Now, I'm on another DVD disc. Bill is rescuing bytes. But then output shows untried remaining at 0 when switching from Perfect Mode to Scan Mode. This also means Bill was switching worlds and modes. I wanted the map to reset at least every mode so Bill can try again at rescuine remaining bytes.

Outlining Bill
2026-04-17 - Friday - 04:02 PM

04:01 PM
Dear Gemini
Ok. Back to the debate. Give me ideas on how to structure Bill. I prefer Bill begins by default mostly on an emphasis on The Linear Approach potentially for over 99% of each disc. I prefer not being too fast with the protocols trying jump approaches if stalling or any problem really. I am trying to seek a balance that might focus totally or mostly on a linear approach for the first like five hours or gradually Bill should transition away step by step when linear approaches continue to fail over time. I prefer if Bill treats heuristic approaches as backup plans.

Give me ideas for outlining Bill. We have modes, worlds, passes, levels, rounds. Those are five hierarchical tiers. The pass tier might not be currently in Bill. The exact order of the tiers can be debated. Don't focus too much on protocols right now as that is more in the realm of heuristic approaches which should be more of a last resort when problems prolong for too long. What is too long is a debate too. I know a perfect disc can be rescued in under five minutes. My main window is under five hours before diving more and more into backup plans.

In outlining a linear-first hierarchical tier Bill outline, you would need to audit everything that is possible via GNU Gnome Ddresue 1.27, the Bill script in general, different files, programs, even bash commands outside of just Ddrescue, all of the different tiers, modes, worlds, levels, passes, rounds, flags, tags, approaches, settings, hacks, combination of approaches, options, variables, ideas, concepts, numbers, sizes, speeds, clusters, sectors, blocks, all of the different flags, different programs, different things.

The challenge is how to outline a universal Bill, a linear approach of different tiers, modes, worlds, levels, rounds, etc, to be universal for any CD, DVD, to be really agnostic, whether a disc is already 0% to even 99% rescued. In other words, it is a debate about a linear-first escalation Bill outline that starts with trying to quickly rescue (copy) the easiest bytes before trying other methods.

This is a big debate. For example, if a disc is 95% rescued, the debate might be which next route is faster, to continue trimming, scraping, etc, and/or continue on whatever steps Bill was on. And/or another route might be to scan, to rescan, things like that, but like a different variation. Even tho Bill can be linear, eventually Bill can run into situations where rescanning might be faster than trimming or retrimming. One of the flags is timeout. So that would be one of the options for any mode. The trick is to come up with a formula that has the highest probability for most discs. Maybe not every disc but life is about probability, it is about starting with what has the highest probability of working the best. Bill needs to focus on what works the best first before diving into experimenting on remaining options down the road.

11:55 PM
Dear Gemini
Compare two scenarios. First scenario: Bill runs in four phases: 10M -c 2048, 10M -c 128, 1M -c 2048, 1M -c 128. Second scenario is just two phases: 10M -c 2048, 1M -c 128.

I could ask a million more follow-up questions. I designed many versions of Bill with different modes, worlds, levels, phases, passes, rounds, flags, speeds, settings, etc. So, it is always a question of the pros and cons of turning down the volume when trying to gradual transition from the telescope to the microscope. There can be millions of different ways of trying to first do the general 70% to 99% general sweep or telescope approach followed with the last mile of getting the final bytes with a microscope. Perhaps some approaches could be more sudden where Bill would stop the telescope. Imagine driving a giant cruiser at 500 miles an hour through the ocean. Imagine stopping in one second. Imagine jumping on a bike and going 5 MPH. That would be all of a sudden. Like going from a shovel to a spoon in half a second. That would be abrupt. And then other approaches might be more gradual and incremental where Bill slowly transitions from bigger to smaller vehicles, telescopes, shovels, or whatever analogy you want to use here. There might be many pros and cons between these different approaches. These debates might be tough to summarize. But I am mostly interested in what has the highest probability of getting as close to 100% rescued in the least amount of time. I also care about minimizing side effects and stuff. But I am mostly trying to find ways to capture most of the bytes as a starting point before trying to figure out how to get the final bits of bytes off discs. Compare starting Bill at 10M, 1M, and 500K. Look at these three situations. Think about the cops. But also think about the Total Time Cost (TTC). Look at the pros, cons, etc. Also, talk about if Bill is set at 1M or any number really, say 1M means minimum read and not maximum speed. It seems to me that it would be possible for Bill to read at 16M sometimes even when set to 1M. Talk about how often Bill might exceed the minimum read rate, look at how much over the speed minimum Bill might go, look at the cops, side effects, pros, cons, statistics, etc.

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