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Backup to USB disk failing

Offline abarron

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Backup to USB disk failing
« on: June 16, 2019, 08:29:32 PM »
Hi,

I should stert by saying that I am not confident with Linux.  For several years I have successfully been backing up my server to an attached USB drive but it has recently stopped working and I don't know why.

I have posted the following bug with lots of details:  https://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10777

As you will see Charlie Brady says it looks like DAR is asking for user input but obviously I don't know what.

I have had a look to try and found out how to run DAR from the command line so that I can see what it iasking for but I am not confident that I understand what to do.

Can anyone help?  I will be most grateful


Offline janet

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2019, 02:09:59 AM »
abarron

I have not looked at your attachments yet.
How old is the USB drive ?
Please give details about the USB.
Is it a powered drive or non powered ?
Have you ran a full disk surface scan on the USB disk ?

Have you tried using another USB drive ?

The data slice is being reported as faulty so that is a reason the backup will not continue. Why ???....

I seem to recall some error with mysql a few years ago that interfered with backup (I think), so if the USB drive is not faulty or failing then you may have a problem with your live data.
Please search before asking, an answer may already exist.
The Search & other links to useful information are at top of Forum.

Offline abarron

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2019, 12:31:41 PM »
Hi Janet,

Thank you for your reply, I think you have helped me in the past.

How old is the USB drive ?   About 4 years.
Please give details about the USB.         Seagate expansion dektop, 2TB, USB3, model STEB2000200.
Is it a powered drive or non powered ?        It is powered.
Have you ran a full disk surface scan on the USB disk?        No I haven't but I did reformat it, I presume this is insufficient?
Have you tried using another USB drive?        I don't currently have another one I can try, but could get one.


If I have a problem with my live data, what does that mean and am I likely to be able to recover it?

Thanks for your help.

Offline TerryF

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2019, 04:49:30 PM »
How large is the backup?

Have had issue of corrupt slice when a full backup was still running and an inc was attempted

This bug has examples of using dar from the cli
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Offline abarron

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2019, 06:38:20 PM »
Terry,

My hard disks currently hold 320GB of data.

I can't see examples of running dar from cli in my bug, can you point me at it?

Offline janet

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2019, 08:53:49 PM »
abarron

As the USB drive is 4 years old then there is possibility of failure setting in, so you really should run a disk manufacturers surface scan to check it is OK.
Otherwise use smartctl long test
https://wiki.contribs.org/Monitor_Disk_Health

or use the tools on UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD)
The reformat is NOT sufficient.

As you do not have another USB disk readily available, then you could attach a standard SATA disk & automount it temporarily, & try doing a backup to it (a few times) to see if you get similar errors after a while.
Alternatively try mounting to a workstation hard drive & backup to that.
Search for suitable commands.

Quote
If I have a problem with my live data, what does that mean and am I likely to be able to recover it ?

Well that is yet to be determined.
You can do a process of elimination as described above, & if you are still having errors then more looking will be needed.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2019, 09:08:59 PM by janet »
Please search before asking, an answer may already exist.
The Search & other links to useful information are at top of Forum.

Offline TerryF

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2019, 06:34:24 AM »
Terry,

My hard disks currently hold 320GB of data.

I can't see examples of running dar from cli in my bug, can you point me at it?

Jeez, I stuffed that up eh :-) sorry  https://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6695#c1
heres another bug discussing some issues that can bite  https://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9914
and well worth a read :-)  https://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9159

320gb, I have a NFP with close to 400gb, takes a significant time to complete a full backup up to 20hrs, have had the occasional blip happen in that time, power outs, disk activity etc (yes have a UPS, gives 20mins of protection)

USB HD needs to be unmounted for backup to run, make sure it is not still mounted, check in your servers directory  /media/usbBackup-2 for any incomplete backups

Disk size became an issue as well, remember, a minimum of 2 x the size of the next backup is needed ie full backup already on the USB disk, next full is due to start and replace it, before the old is deleted the new is created - hence you need 2 x the space to perform a backup that is an absolute minimum, inc just add to it. There are discussions here and bug discussions on the issue
« Last Edit: June 18, 2019, 06:36:18 AM by TerryF »
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Offline TerryF

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #7 on: June 19, 2019, 02:26:13 PM »
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Offline abarron

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Re: Backup to USB disk failing
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2019, 05:26:27 PM »
Hi All,

It took a while but I just wanted to thank everyone for their help.

It is now working again, I tried a new external drive and that worked.

Did a full format on the original disk using a W10 PC  and EXT4 format instead of EXT3.

At the same time I found a comment that said drives for backup using DAR should not be mounted (in the Affa document I think).  I had been trying to mount the disk and had also set it to mount on boot, so I removed all this.

I think it was the format that actually solved the issue.

Thank you all once again.