FW: External Backup Disk Drive

Sat Jun 22 17:55:39 UTC 2013

I am unable to send the email with the attachments because of size limitations. Sending it anyway without the attachments.

Thanks,
Ramesh
From: rameshrao55 at hotmail.com
To: basroufs at gmail.com; kubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: RE: External Backup Disk Drive
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 17:40:52 +0000

Thanks a lot to all who have joined the discussion and provided tips/suggestions. I will try to answer some of your questions.

1. It is a usb connection.
2. But on connecting, I don't see the device under "Dolphin". I am attaching a screen-snapshot.
3. The Partition Editor also does not show the external drive. Snapshot attached. It shows only the internal two drives.
4. BUT lsusb command lists following. The last line one refers to Seagate Backup Drive.
5. Without the device being "detected" I cannot do the formatting etc..

==================================================
ramesh at mozart:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04e8:3272 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0430:100e Sun Microsystems, Inc. 24.1" LCD Monitor v4 / FID-638 Mouse
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 1267:0213 Logic3 / SpectraVideo plc 
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0430:00a2 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Type 7 Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bc2:a0a4 Seagate RSS LLC 
ramesh at mozart:~$ 
==================================================

I am particularly thankful to Bas for his very detailed instructions. Right now I would appreciate if someone leads me to the next step..

Thanks all,
Ramesh Rao
937-434-6625
Dayton, OH 45458
USA

From: basroufs at gmail.com
To: kubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: External Backup Disk Drive
Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 14:15:25 +0200

Hello Ramesh,

> I just today bought Seagate Backup Plus (2TB) external drive. It seems to
> come with Windows/Mac2 compatible auto-backup software.

simply forget about this windows/ mac software. Whipe them away or copy it temporarily to somewhere else - anyway, you do not need it. There are plenty of good Linux backup software packages - one of them is "Lucky Backup"- already mentioned several times in this thread. However, before doing anything else, take care of reformatting the whole external HD into EXT4 - to make sure backing up from a contemporary Linux machine will work properly. In general, a newly bought external HD comes with NFTS. Such a format is only useful to copy  bigger files directly from a MAC or WIN machine. I for example use 2 external HD's for routine backup purposes - 1 of 2 TB which stays at home, another portable one of 750 GB - both of them, I have formatted with EXT4. I know it is possible to partition an external HD into eg. a EXT4 and NTFS part. But personally,, I prefer to have one file system at one HD. A smaller, old portable 300 GB external HD, I have formatted as NTFS - with a view to exchanging files with Windows and Mac computers.

If you use Kubuntu, use "KDE Partition manager" to reformat your external HD - and to partition it, in case you choose to do so. 

Test now if you can copy files to and from the external HD after reformatting it - simply via Dolphin. If yes, you are ready. If not, no problem - you need to do just a few more steps. Open a terminal and carry out the command "kdesudo dolphin".  You will come in Dolphin filemanager as root. Click at the external HD. Then, rightclick at the file list without clicking at a specific file. Next step: click at properties. Next step: click at the tab "permissions". Via that tab, you have to change the "ownership": from "root" to you. Also make sure via the same tab that you as owner, are able to read, view and modify the content of the disk. After doing all this, you will be fine.

> 
> My question is :
> 
> 1. the auto backup software may not work under Linux. In that event would
> manual backup be possible?

See above and below.
> 
> 2. Kubuntu has "Lucky Backup" software. Would that work on these Seagate
> Drives. (I personally see no reason not to..)

Yes, absolutely. As Sinclair said already: it does not really matter which drive you are using. What useful to know is the storage capacity and the number of rotations per minute (rpm). The storage capacity is in your case 2 TB - so more then enough :-).  The number of rpm you can find in the documentation about your drive.

Finally, one point of attention with respect to Lucky Backup. A few times, I got back "old" files and folders from the external HD back to the laptop. Later, I found out how to prevent this. I use the option "synchronise source and destination.". The laptop, /home/username, is the "source" in this case. The external HD is the destination: /media/name-of-external-HD/username.  One of the "advanced" options I use, is this one: "delete files on the destination". By doing so, I make sure I get the most recent files and folders configuration on BOTH source AND destination. 
In case you have to put back your files and folders to your laptop, after a fresh install, simply use one time an option like "clone source to destination". In that case, do NOT use the advanced option "delete files  on the destination". 

I hope, this explanation is useful for you.

Respectfully yours,
Bas  G. Roufs.

-- 
Bas G. Roufs MA 
Van 't Hoffstraat 1; NL - 3514 VT Utrecht 
E. BasRoufs at gmail.com; Mob. +31 6 446 835 10; Tel. +31 30 785 20 40. 
Open source OS: Kubuntu 13.04, see kubuntu.org .
Websites in construction: BasRoufs.eu ; Viaconsensus.nl; RainbowGathering.eu
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