Topic: Auto-mounting a USB External Hard Disk

[rf131]

Hi There,

I have seen some threads about automatically mounting a USB external disk for other distros, and people had mixed results.

I did some searching on Contribs but didn't come up with anything addressing this capability.

Can I have an external USB disk automatically mounted when it is plugged in?  It doesn't look like that was what the automount daemon was designed for (looks more like network shares).  My initial tests with the drive show it is recognized, but I don't know how to set it up to automatically mount when found by the system.

I want to do this so my client can just go to the server and plug in the drive; automatically mounting will have it ready for the next backup.

I'll figure out how to umount the drive once the backup is complete.

Thanks,
Kevin

[terje]

hi there.

I am a as far from  an expert as i can be but...

this is not a answer to your question, but if you can write scripts it may help anyway. I suppose that the USB drive is for backup purposes only? what about making a script who mounts, makes the backup, and finally unmounts the drive?

there would be no need for automounting if you do it that way?

[arne]

I did it partly that way. One script for mounting, one for backup and one for unmounting. Worked quite ok and no commands to remember. Don't remember why I did not collect it all in one script.

[rf131]

Thanks for the feedback.  

Correct on the purpose of the drives; they are backup only.

I'm really looking for a way to automount the disk so when the user plugs it in, it just mounts.  I'm unclear as to whether the script you are referring to does this.  The people in the office are not computer people, and I'm off-site and work on a volunteer basis.

If the scripts work this way for you with no commands to remember, I would be interested in getting a copy of them if you are willing.

The backup job could umount the disk and prepare it for unplugging after the job is completed.

Thanks,
Kevin

[afisk]

Set up a similar sript that was all in one -- mounts the drive, does the backup and then unmounts it -- script was not very complicated -- I will snag a copy next time I am on site.

Why do you need to plug & unplug the drive -- I know my customer had planned to use the usb drive to backup desktops too -- but I don't think it's been unplugged since I set it up.  I guess as long as their docs and pst files are on teh server they will be ok.

[arne]

I had this qestion up here at this forum for a year or two ago. I got a lot of help and everything worked in the end. All scripts and commands were written in that tread. Could be searched for.

[rf131]

afisk,

I want to be able to use several of these like tape drives; the user would unplug and plug in the next one for backup.

I can load up a whole bunch of these instead of expensive, high-capacity tape drives.

I did some searching, but didn't come up with any scripts.  If any reading this thread would kindly point me in the direction with some key words I would appreciate it.

Kevin

[dmajwool]

Why do you need to plug & unplug the drive

I should think physically removing the drive makes it a better backup regime - Less risk of corruption or environmental damage.

[rf131]

Correct on the unplugging and removing.  What good does a drive do you if it is still hooked up and not in a fire-proof container and you have a real fire that destroys your server?

[erland]

Hi Kevin

I found out that if I change the usbdisk it will change connection from /dev/sda to /dev/sdb. It took me a while to figure out what to do about that.
I do like like this :

mount -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbdisk
mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usbdisk
#I get an errormessage on sda or sdb, but who cares
rsync -aWv /home/e-smith/files/ /mnt/usbdisk/backup
umount /mnt/usbdisk

This script is put in /etc/cron.daily and thus run every morning at 4.

The businessowner comes in every morning at 8.30 changes the usbdisk and takes the "old" one home.

This works very fine ( a bit crude but I'll work on that )

Regards Erland

[rf131]

Good Day Erland,

Thanks for the info.  Definitely basic, but gets the job done.

I'll check on the mount/umount commands to see what happens with the device number.  Perhaps a search script for the device from an available "pool" of devices.

I have been struggling a little with this backup thing (the server isn't in production until I get this sorted out).  I wanted to take a look at the proprietary offerings that would work with RH, and snagged a copy of PerfectBackup+ version 7 on eBay.  This came out several years ago, so for $15 US I thought I would give it a try.

I got spoiled a number of years ago with the Legato Networker motif interface on some Solaris servers I used to manage.  It was so easy to set things up and keep things going.  I would like to have similar capabilities, even though that may be a curses-based character-cell interface.

It looks like this product had its heyday, but that is long-gone.  If it looks good enough I'll just go with it.  I do know it will work with the USB devices, but just how good I'll find out in the next week.

If not, I think I might be able to get a competitive upgrade to BackupEdge with this license.

I'll post a separate thread about my trials and tribulations with PerfectBackup.

Kevin

[rf131]

UPDATE...

Well, the PerfectBackup+ v7 wasn't exactly perfect  

The available devices for backup did not include a USB (no surprise), but I could not "fool" it into using something else; it would just error out.

Besides that, I would need to obtain a license key, and they are no longer in business.  Oh well, that's $15 wasted.

I tried BackupEdge.  It was not able to autodetect the USB disk, but I did manage to manually create the device .  It would mount the device OK, but would freeze up on the backup; I wasn't able to tell where the problem was.  Are there any settings to "throttle" the USB disk throughput?  I wonder if I'm trying to push data through the USB too fast.

Anyway, I'm still out to lunch on this backup thing, and the box will sit at my house until I figure something out.  I just hope the 6 year old NT 4 box doesn't melt down (I do have backups).

I noticed there is a utility called dar (Disk ARchive) that works in concert with a product called SaraB.  SaraB front-ends dar and can implement a number of backup strategies to disk including Grandfather-Father-Son and Towers of Hanoi.  I'll probably give this a shot next.  If I had the time I would consider creating a panel for SaraB.

I could always go back to the rsync script previously posted, but I would like a little more flexibility, which dar && sarab might be able to provide.

Kevin

[cosy]

Hi Kevin,

  Have you manage to install saraB in to SME 7B4?
if so please update with the steps.

[rf131]

Hi Cosy,

No plans for a v7 install for me until formal release.  I will post information about the dar and sarab once I can get around to the install.

I'm strapped for time right now, but will try to fit in soon.

Kevin