I backed up my home folder and changed pc, but now unable to get it back on the new machine, I used dejadup to encrypt it on original laptop and trying to get it all back with same program on the new pc. I have some screen shots that may help. thanks, using ubuntu 2024.
Screen shots will help us determin what is going on.
If you can see the device,
If it will open and to what stage.
I personally dont know your back up program, but i am sure someone on the site will be able to help you.
I always recommend making a full copy of everything onto an external disk, simply using drag and drop, forgetti g all about encription, backup tools, just a straight copy. Why , because I know that generally I can get back the image document or folder, backup restore can cause and expand these issues.
But that does not help yo in this case.
1 Like
Hi, @raymond
So you opened deja dup on the new machine, and I assume that is a usb flash drive with your backups on it. You chose restore and navigated to the backup you wish to restore and received what error message(s)?
It looks like you have several full backups, but I do not see any incremental ones, at least in the screenshot.
Tell us the steps you took in trying to restore, including which files/folders you chose, and what happened after that. It will help us assist you with more information.
Thanks,
Sheila Flangan
4 Likes
Hi Sheila, I really donāt know much about backups, I used deja dup because that,s what was in ubuntu. the second screenshot is the content of the 2tb seagate external HDD when it,s plugged into a USB on the new pc.I followed instructions to recoup the home folder but I really donāt know what Iām doing hence my quest for info.
1 Like
Hi Raymond,
You need to read the instructions, then retry and tell us what happened
It should be possible to restore your files to the new machine.
Regards
Neville
5 Likes
Thanks for the info Neville,but when I click Restore I get āno back up files foundā although I do have them in the Seagate HDD as you can see in the second screenshot.
1 Like
Is the backup disk mounted?
You can look with df or lsblk to see if there is a mount.
or
you may have to tell dejadup which disk to look at
2 Likes
The Seagate is mounted and I have told dejadup the storage location but the same results.It asked for my encrypted password but still no go. Here is a shot of the Seagate HDD.
1 Like
I am at a loss to understand why it can not see the backup files?
Does your new computer perhaps have a newer version of dejadup?
The OS can see the files, but dejadup can not see them?.. therefore the problem is in dejadup, not in the new OS, or on the disk.
Hang on, is that the case. Can your file manager see the files on the backup disk?
We need to know that firstā¦ if the file manager cant see them, the problem is in the new OS or on the disk
2 Likes
I donāt know about the file manager but I tried the backup HDD on an other computer and it,s the same results Neville.I think something went really screwy when I did the original backup either the backup program was defective or I did it wrong, so I think Iāll forget about recovering the info and perhaps you could point me towards a method to empty the Seagate, thanks.
1 Like
You can use gparted to reformat the partitions on the Seagate.
The Seagate has to be unmounted when you use gparted.
Be careful you dont accidentally reformat the wrong disk when using gparted.
I prefer clonezilla for backups. Use it from a usb drive. It takes a bit of learning but
once you have practised a bit, it is foolproof.
1 Like
In my backup data on the external HDD under Preferences and Optional context menu actions there is a Delete permanently option, could I use it to delete all on the disk?
1 Like
I am not sure what app you are using here.
Are you in the File Manager?
If the disk is giving trouble, I would do more than just delete files. I would reformat it.
1 Like
Neville, I will need to study all this, so many thanks for your help.
1 Like
I had a similar experience. After upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Deja-Dup would not see the files it had created immediately prior to the upgrade. This occurred on two different machines. (I had to restore my data via my server, which was slower than if Deja-Dup had run properly, but it worked.)
Deja-Dup is on my ānever againā list and has been removed from all my computers. Backup is now a straight-forward rsync.
1 Like
Hello Don, Iām also dumping deja dup, I donāt trust it. Thanks.And Neville Iām using Disks to delete the files in the Seagate and formatting at the same time, slow but works for me, itās simple! ha ha.
1 Like
Backup software has never been on my list of useful tools and restore is even more of a pain.
Back to my original idea, just do a straight copy onto an external disk, that way you can just copy it back.
Yes takes longer but its possible to use another system, linux windows or mac to get at your data.
I also have 2 external disks and cycle them every other week for my copies that way if one fails I can go back another week and each disk can hold a few months of data, so disk one week one, disk two week 2, back to disk one and week 3 daya in another folder, when it starts getting full delete oldest week copy. Belt and braces.
Given the cost of your data and time involved ā¦
2 Likes
Thanks Don,
That is a very valuable piece of adviceā¦ everyone should listen.
There is nothing worse than unreliable backup software.
And @raymond ā¦ listen to Donā¦ learn to use rsync at the CLIā¦ it is not difficult
or
do as @callpaul.eu says and just use cp at the CLI
Regards
Neville
@raymond
If you decide on rsync, you may find this useful
How I use rsync for backup of user files
My recipe for using ārsyncā as a backup tool for my personal files is as follows
rsync -aAXvH /common/ /media/nevj/Linux-external/common
All I do is become root ( or use sudo) and type that at the CLI.
Lets see what all the options meaan
-
-a ā also called --archive. Copies all files either not on the backup medium or which have been modified. Does not delete files on the backup which have been erased on the source filesystem.
-
-A ā preserve ACLās . These are file permissions in addition to the normal file permissions.
They are rarely used in a home system. -
-X ā preserve extended attributes. See
man xattr -
-v ā verbose
-
-H ā preserve hard links
and the filenames
-
/common/ā the source filesystem. I keep my personal files outside of /home/nevj. The trailing/ensures that all files in the directory are copied, even dot files ( ie hidden files whose names begin with.) . For most users this might be/home/username/. Do not use/home/username/*as the*will not match the dotfilesā¦ -
/media/nevj/Linux-external/commonā the destination filesystem. This will depend on how you mount the external disk. I use a directory calledcommonon the external disk, because I put other things there. You can omit that and rsync to the root directory of the external disk.
I keep my recipe in a little file, and copy/paste it every time I backup.
What you end up with , on the external disk, is another filesystem exactly like the source filesystem ā¦ it does not compact the files into a single large file. Therefore, you can see everything , and you can retrieve any individual file with a ācpā command.
When you run it for the first time, there will be a lot of files copied. After that rsync will work incrementally, ie it will just backup the changes.
Note: Other people will have variations on this use of rsync.
Maybe they would like to show us?
1 Like