Re: [Duplicity-talk] Fwd: Re: Restoring from/to a USB stick

[Nate Eldredge]

On Tue, 12 May 2020, Andrew Wood wrote:

> If I run
>
> > duplicity list-current-files 
> file:///run/media/awood/MyPassport/Deja-Vu-Back-up > 
> /run/media/awood/MyPassport/USB-Restore/dup-log.txt
>
> which has no --time parameter, and I try and find an entry for the USB volume 
> '7160-75C1' then there's no reference other than a couple of status file - 
> like this one:
>
> home/awood/.local/share/gvfs-metadata/uuid-7160-75C1-e7c29a79.log

When you omit --time from either a restore or list-current-files command, 
you get the contents of the most recent backup of the set (full or 
incremental).  I thought you'd already established that the files you want 
were not present for the most recent backup, so this doesn't seem to tell 
us anything new.

> I also tried this is the --time "03-27-2020" instead and there's the same 
> result - no other reference to the USB than that above.
>
> The reason that I think that the USB was actually backed-up is that if I look 
> in some of the more recent manifest files then I can see delete operations on 
> files in the USB volume '7160-75C1'. So, I conclude that there was - at some 
> point a full back-up of the volume, and then subsequent operations on the 
> files on the volume are being recorded ie changelog. I also know that in 
> March/April the USB stick was mounted and that the locations to back-up in 
> Deja-Vu were both /home/andrew and also the USB volume. So, the question is - 
> how can I retrieve that full backup and specifically the USB?

I guess I don't know how Deja-Vu structures its backups.  I think the most 
complete advice I can suggest is:

- Use 'duplicity collection-status file://...' to make a list of all 
date when backups that took place.

- For each date that seems relevant, use 'duplicity list-current-files 
--time=... file://...", with a date/time slightly later than what's listed 
for the backup in question.

- Search each resulting list for the files you want.  It's probably more 
useful to search for the name of a particular file, rather than the 
directory where you think it was located, in case it was not what you 
thought.

> For example, if I try something like this as was suggested:
>
> duplicity --file-to-restore  /run/media/awood/7160-75C1/ 
> file:///run/media/awood/MyPassport/Deja-Vu-Back-up 
> /run/media/awood/MyPassport/USB-Restore-7160-75C1
>
> This man entry for duplicity (https://linux.die.net/man/1/duplicity) suggests 
> --file-to-restore takes a folder name. If I specify the root for the folder 
> then that should work, shouldn't it? Hence the '/' on the volume name for the 
> USB.

It takes a folder name, yes, but *relative* to the base point of the 
backup.  So for instance, if you originally ran "duplicity full /foo/bar" 
and there was a folder called /foo/bar/baz/blah, then in order to restore 
it you would need to use "--file-to-restore baz/blah".  If the base point 
was / then you'd use "--file-to-restore foo/bar/baz/blah" (without an 
initial /).

I don't know what Deja-Vu uses as its base point, which is why I suggest 
looking for a file name instead of a directory.

--
Nate Eldredge
address@hidden