12:15 AM
Dear Gemini
You wrote the following about the Seek Penalty, "If your 10M pass creates 10,000 gaps (a "Swiss Cheese" map), Bill must perform 10,000 seeks during the next phase. This is 33 minutes of pure silence where the laser isn't even firing—just the motor moving the head back and forth."

Make a list of each thing that might create gaps which increases the Seek Penalty. List everything from biggest to smallest. Big being anything that might cause the biggest or most amount of counterproductive side effects, meaning increased Total Time Cost (TTC), as in more holes, problems. Look at all the settings, flags, combinations, modes, like speeds like 10M, other speeds, cluster sizes, skip sizes, block sizes, sector sizes, etc.

02:07 AM
I am confused now. It seems like you were saying 10M might sometimes create many holes meaning oceans of rescued bytes followed by tiny islands of non-rescued bytes. Based on that, resetting the map would probably not delete those tiny islands assuming the 10M created island-like holes. In other words, resetting the map might help with reverting trimmed, scraped, and bad sector bytes back to untried status which is like clearing playing field as it relates to remaining bytes. But it does not seem that it would eliminate islands. Please talk about this. Expand Bill, include a special Perfect Mode: World 0: Level 0 that includes 5M speed combined with the best combination of flags to maximize the odds that it might rescue 70% to 99% of some of the discs potentially. Infinite rounds per level. Linear approach where Bill tries to run through all bytes at 5M. Each round can be up to an hour long. Bill must rest for ten minutes after running for an hour. Bill must activate Housekeeping and Refresh protocols and other protocols as needed to minimize cops and especially TTC and the seek penalty and all other potential issues.

Phil Protocol
Coach Phil must run the best plays like as if Bill really was Michael Jordan. For example, if there is literally only one byte remaining, Phil probably wants to play Trim Mode, Scrape Mode, Crawl Mode, Reverse Mode, and/or any combinations of flags. Phil might want to first read the map file, Dmesg, the log file, other files if there are any, run commands to see what is happening, and then perhaps reset the map. Remember the other protocols too like Housekeeping and Refresh. Phil is a coach. Phil should probably only call timeout at the very end of the game because I prefer a linear approach where Bill generally tries to focus on Perfect Mode and Scan Mode before spending too much time in other modes, settings, flags, combinations, configurations, options, etc. Don't forget about the Jordan Protocol and many other protocols too. Phil needs to be extremely picky, I mean Phil should only call timeout when there are no other options left. Phil has to study playbook, watch the tapes, and have all the facts before calling timeout. Only interrupt rounds if it is critical. Some of this probably overlaps with other protocols and things.

Jobs Protocol
The Jobs Protocol must split Bill into three parts: Booting (1), Driving (2), Last Mile (3). The first part (Booting) must remain independent inside the Bill script. Booting must start when a Bill session is initiated in the Terminal. Booting must check all relevant files, commands, settings, data. Booting must switch Bill to part two (Driving) or part three (Last Mile). Driving must push Bill to beyond 95% rescued. Driving is the main engine of Bill. Driving must remain independent. Driving houses the main modes, levels, rounds, flags. Driving focuses on pushes Bill to rescue easier bytes first. The Last Mile must remain independent. Unlike Driving, the Last Mile must not reset the map at the beginning of each session or world. The Last Mile must have persistent memory across sessions. The Last Mile must be focused on rescuing the final bytes, the final five percent. The Final Mile must be a modified version of the Drive but customized to specialize in finishing the final bytes. The Last Mile must personalized modes, worlds, levels, rounds, settings, flags, in order to better adapt. The Last Mile is basically the Coach Phil Protocol because Phil is focused on winning games at the end. Booting is also Phil. Booting is that fork in the middle, that probe. Bill probably shouldn't enter the Final Mile until 95% rescued.

01:13 AM
Dear Gemini
You wrote: "S (--scrape): No, Scan mode cannot "use" the scrape flag. If you include -S, you are not in Scan mode anymore. You have explicitly told ddrescue to skip the Copy/Scan and Trim phases and go straight to the Scrape phase."

Does that mean flags define which mode you are in? This is a chicken or the egg debate. I was asking about modes if flags are used in any mode. You might be saying not so much that modes define flags but that flags define modes. It also seems the default modes are more estimates of what a default run is while flags could cause Bill to slide in and out of modes based on the flags and not based on modes if modes are not defining the flags but the flags are defining modes which is still partly challenging as some flags can be used in any mode and yet flags can define modes and modes might use different flags.

To use an analogy, it seems Trim is using a spoon to scrape out the remaining bits of oatmeal out of a pan to eat in a bowl. Putting oatmeal in the bowl is rescuing bytes. I don't know if Trim always results in rescued bytes or if Trim can result in an altered map file. It seems Trim focuses mostly or only on the edges of what was rescued and/or the edges sectors, blocks, clusters, regions, areas, parts, and/or bytes which may or may not include bytes that may or may not be rescued. I don't know exactly how it all works, I'm not sure what it can and cannot do in any situation. If a Trim only modifies the map file and if Bill returned to rescan via Scan Mode, assuming the map file is reset to allow for rescanning, it would seem the modified map file would have been deleted if said map file was thus resetted which might perhaps delete the trimming, that is if trimming did not result in rescued bytes.

I guess if Trim rescued bytes like scraping oatmeal out of the edges of an oatmeal pan, then the act of returning to Scan Mode via resetting the map to rescan would at least in theory be similar or identical to Scrape Mode because Scrape seems to be a very strict version of Scan.

02:31 PM
Dear Gemini
We talked about three modes: Scan, Trim, Scrape. Now talk about Crawl and any other modes if any. Focus on Crawl Mode and talk about similarities Crawl may or may not have with other modes. We talked about the car truck vs truck car debate with how modes can be customized using flags and settings in general. To an extent, there is Scan and Trim. In some ways, there seems to be mostly two main modes. It seems Scan is a quick leapfrogging Check of bytes while Scrape is a slow non-leapfrogging Recheck. Scrape seems like a modified version of Scan, that Scrape has default settings and also limits that prevents it from being Scan Premium. Scrape seems to be Scan Basic or Scan Lite but focused. So, it seems Scrape is unique to Scan as Spoon is unique to Shovel even as both look identical from far away. Actually, Scan is an Excavator. Scrape is a Shovel. Trim is a Spoon. In theory, flags would change the sizes of these digging devices to make them bigger, smaller, etc. In theory at least, modification can make these three different or similar or perhaps identical. You've said some modes are hard-coded to do some things and also not do some things. Hard-codes would indeed make said modes unique if the modes ignore certain flags or certain things. Therefore, even tho these modes are digging devices, I can sort of see differences between modes at least to a degree. I also see similarities. When designing Bill, it is critical to know the pros and cons of modes, especially as modes can sometimes be redesigned to simulate other modes as that begs the question of what is the point of Scrape if Scan can be redesigned to Scrape. In other words, Bill could in theory at least be designed to Scan in a quick pass through all the bytes and then Bill could be programmed to rescan to simulate Trim and then perhaps Bill could be ordered a third time to rescan again but slowly cluster by cluster to simulate Scrape. So, in some ways, that would be Scan 3 times. In other ways, that was technically Bill doing Scan, Trim, and Scrape but via the Scan Mode. I want to know if there is anything unique about the Crawl Mode, a Backwards -R Reverse Mode, other modes if any. I am trying to find ways to summarize the main categories of what Bill can do. Because on one level, you can say they all can dig, so therefore one mode but different worlds or sizes, etc. On the other hand, it could be define as two modes, Scan, Trim, Slow Scan (Scrape). And it can be defined as Scan, Trim, Scrape. It could even be defined as Scan, Trim, Scrape, Crawl. But it is tough to see if Crawl is even super unique as Crawl can be a modified version of other modes. It can also be outlined to be Scan, Rescan, Trim, Retrim, Scrape, Rescrape (Crawl). And then so on and so forth as Scan can be Rescanned and Rerescanned. But to a degree, Scan and Rescan is the same thing even more than Scrape is simply a slow Scan. Some modes could perhaps omit some flags if that helps perfect discs, but only if Jordan or others could perhaps escape the cops if things get tough. After that, specific Scan modes, worlds, levels, or flags could be skipped as soon as Bill realizes a particular move failed. You can have as many worlds and levels and rounds with different flag combinations with the three or more scan modes but only if they are all unique and specialized and especially only if Bill can make sure to escape prison if he does get stuck. You can decide when to include or omit flags depending on what Bill might be able to do. If timeout flags might hurt Bill and if Bill can find other ways to escape prison in less than maybe two minutes after getting caught because he didn't have timeout flags and/or other flags, if Bill could then learn from his mistake and perhaps not do that again, that might be a good idea and yet hard to know as each part of a disc could be different and a variety of things may or may not work in different parts of a disc making all of this very hard to figure out. I do not mean fully patient. Bill should try maximum speeds. Bill should try different tactics like all the things you talked about regarding multiple scan modes and the different worlds, levels, tactics, and perhaps even -R and other things might help sometimes. Bill probably should not wait more than ten hours before moving on to Post-Scan modes. Bill should try to remain in the three scan modes and all of the sub-mode worlds and levels for as long as possible trying different things from fastest tactics to slower tactics gradually step by step. Eventually, Bill needs to move on to Post-Scan modes after exhausting all Scan-Themed modes, worlds, levels, chapters, rounds, jobs, flags, settings, variations, tactics, combinations, etc.

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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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