Topic: Backup to usb disk from console panel.

[tropicalview]

Hi,

I try to make a server backup from the console panel option 8.
i noticed that the system will indeed verify if there is a usb disk available. but when i run the backup it will make the backup in:

/media/New_Volume

but this is just a location on the servers harddrive.
I tried it with 2 different test servers and this happened on both.


does anybody know what i'm doing wrong? even after remove of the usb disk the "/media/New_Volume" will exists. and it doesn't before the backup procedure.

I tried with the USB disk (Hard disk) formatted as NTFS and as EXT2

[mercyh]

Have you seen this? http://wiki.contribs.org/USBDisks It has more information then you need but has some great troubleshooting tips on how to identify your usb drive and what some of the troubleshooting steps could be.

>NTFS will not mount as it is not recognized by SME

>I am very wary of USB drive backups with SME. The problem I have seen in my testing is that the drive will mount automatically the first time you plug it in. When you unplug it it will not unmount immediately, if it does not unmount correctly it leaves a mount point much as you describe below. If you then do a backup it will backup to that mount point directory on the local drive and show that it completed correctly. 

noticed that the system will indeed verify if there is a usb disk available. but when i run the backup it will make the backup in:

/media/New_Volume

I have never seen this exact behavior on a machine that had a usb drive plugged in for the first time and had it mounted correctly. For me as long as the mount point is correct and pointing at a drive with the correct type of filesystem (Not NTFS) the backup works fine.

[tropicalview]

Hi mercyh,


I was already thinking of something like that.
for sure i will (RE) read the USB disk instructions.

but reading this i got 2 questions:

1 what is the best file system to format this type of drives (44gig backup file will be generated)

2 how can i unmount this volume?

[mercyh]

1. what is the best file system to format this type of drives (44gig backup file will be generated)

Ext3 / Ext2 are your only choice with a single file size of 4gig or greater. Look in the USB disk howto about block size. It looks like you will need to change it from default. This may be the reason your backup is not working.

What size is the backup on the test servers you mentioned? do they also have large backup files. (I have never tested with this large of a backup file.)

[mercyh]

2 how can i unmount this volume?

When you look in /media/ Do you have a mount point that is the name of your drive? If not the drive is unmounted. Plug the drive back in and watch /Media/ to see if it mounts. Once the drive is there you should be able to browse the files on that drive. It is important to check that files on that drive are visible as if the drive does not unmount, It will look like it is there in /media/ but the directory will be empty.

One way to test. Plug the drive into server1, get the drive mounted and using nano, pico or vi create a text file on the drive. Pull the drive and plug into server2 and see if the file is there. Check server1 and see if the mount point has been removed.