Topic: Backup to USB - Succeded but data missing

[trystnw]

Hi

I was in the process of moving SME to different hardware. As up time wasn't critical and the amount of data wasn't that much (12 GB) decided to backup to a USB HDD , install SME on different hardware and do a restore from backup. The Backup to USB succeeded , (The USB drive was formatted as ext3) but when i tried to restore from it , was not able to do so. On connecting the USB up to different PC (running Centos and Ubuntu) found the USB to be empty. 

Of course as luck would have it, the other sys admin had grabbed the original harddrives and formatted them and installed SME on a different machine before i could finish the restore. This data is critical, can anyone help me

Thanks

[m]

Did you have the USB drive connected to the server during SME install? If so, the drive was integrated into the RAID array and formatted. Then your data is lost.

[trystnw]

Hi

no the usb was not connected during the install. I connected it up when the server was booting after installation ( just before the 'Do you want to restore from backup' screen)

Thanks

[pfloor]

Hi

I was in the process of moving SME to different hardware. As up time wasn't critical and the amount of data wasn't that much (12 GB) decided to backup to a USB HDD , install SME on different hardware and do a restore from backup. The Backup to USB succeeded

The backup "succeeded" but was it successful?  How long did it take to backup the 12 gig?

(The USB drive was formatted as ext3) but when i tried to restore from it , was not able to do so.

Please be more specific and tell us your exact steps, what you saw and what you expected to see.

There was (and maybe still is) a bug concerning usb drives not being mounted properly during a system restore.  I have one particular machine that has IRQ quirks and my usb drive isn't detected properly during the "restore from usb" process if my network card is in slot #2.  Took me a bit of time to figure that one out

On connecting the USB up to different PC (running Centos and Ubuntu) found the USB to be empty. 

Did you mount the drive before you went looking for the data?  Just connecting it won't do you any good.

Of course as luck would have it, the other sys admin had grabbed the original harddrives and formatted them and installed SME on a different machine before i could finish the restore. This data is critical,

Sit down, grab you copy of "Linux for Dummies" and hit yourself over the head for letting those drives out of your sight

[trystnw]

The backup "succeeded" but was it successful?  How long did it take to backup the 12 gig?

It took roughly 30 Mins to do the backup.

Please be more specific and tell us your exact steps, what you saw and what you expected to see.

I connected up the USB drive , formatted it as ext3 , Then hit the backup to usb option in the admin menu. It found the USB and ran the backup and said backup sucessfully completed . I then disconnected the USB , setup SME on another machine, and on reboot after install , when it said do you want to restore from backup ? i said yes and connected up the drive and it said, no backup found

There was (and maybe still is) a bug concerning usb drives not being mounted properly during a system restore.  I have one particular machine that has IRQ quirks and my usb drive isn't detected properly during the "restore from usb" process if my network card is in slot #2.  Took me a bit of time to figure that one out
The USB drive detected of that i am sure

Did you mount the drive before you went looking for the data?  Just connecting it won't do you any good.

I have read linux for dummies several times and know the difference between connecting up and mounting 

Sit down, grab you copy of "Linux for Dummies" and hit yourself over the head for letting those drives out of your sight
I have already done that , added a couple of quick bashes to the other idiot's head but strangely , didn't seem to help in any way 

[Agent86]

Did you have the USB drive connected to the server during SME install? If so, the drive was integrated into the RAID array and formatted. Then your data is lost.

Non-related comment. WOW I had no idea that the external USB drive could be part of the Raid really cool, I'll have fun playing with that.I would suspect it would/could slow things down some ?