Backing up failing hard drives

After getting tired of going skip with mc (midnight commander) each time a file couldn't be read I looked harder for an alternative. Tar seems to do the job nicely.

tar -cvf --ignore-failed-read bundled_filename.tar directory_name/.

This way you can tar the whole directory and every time a file can't be read it just ignores it and tars the next one. If you use screen as well you can check on it from any computer you are logged into.

Vodem on Ubuntu - EEEPC701

After spending ages trying all I could think of to get the vodem going with both Ubuntu 8.04 and 9.04 on two EEEPCs, finally got it sussed! Created a live usb stick with the standard Ubuntu 9.10, booted off that (hit esc at the start of booting to get a boot menu) while the vodem was plugged in. Unmounted the vodem which was showing as a usb drive. Right click on the networking icon at the top right of the screen. Select 'edit connections'. Select mobile broadband. Go add. Select the device under "create a connection for this mobile broadband device". Select the country (New Zealand in this case), select the provider (Vodafone), next, then select 'unrestricted'. From there just go next until complete leaving everything as defaults. Save it then left click on the networking icon and you should see the option of 'Mobile Broadband' and under that you can click on Vodafone unrestricted. It should then connect, assuming you have a signal. Now all I need to do is check that everything else works with 9.10.

Retrospect Settings for Linux

To install on Ubuntu 9.10 download the redhat version. Create a deb file from that by using alien with the --scripts parameter. Install the deb package. Set the password by running ./rpm-post-install.sh in the /usr/local/dantz/client/ directory. If you need to reset the password you need to delete the /var/log/retroclient.state file (or rename it to be safe)

You can exclude directories by editing the /etc/retroclient.excludes file. Then run retrocpl with the -exclude on option, e.g. retrocpl -exclude on

For Reference:
/usr/local/dantz/client/retrocpl help file contents:
[OPTIONS]
-on|off Turn the client on or off without shutting down
the client process
-stop Shutdown the client process
-readonly [on|off] Set the client read-only mode
(default is read/write)
-exclude [on|off] Turn on or off processing of
/etc/retroclient.excludes
-notifyafter [on|off] Turn on or off notification after backup
dialog message
-notifynobackup [on|off]Turn on or off notification dialog if no
backup in days
-notifynumdays [number of days] Set the number of days before a notification
of no backup dialog appears
-log n Set the logging level to n (default=6)
Logs are saved in /var/log/retroclient.log
and /var/log/retropds.log
--help Display this message

[PROACTIVE_OPTIONS]
asap Request a backup as soon as possible
normal Return to the normal backup schedule
mm:dd:yyyy:hh:mm Defer backup until after the specified time
skipdays=n Defer backup for n days

Retrospect Client version 7.6.100
Visit our website for more information

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If there is a problem with backups may need to comment out the "RETROSPECT_HOME" lines in /etc/profile - from a discussion board. I don't have a "DISPLAY", since everything is managed via command line. The installer automatically puts the "RETROSPECT_HOME" environment variable in the system login (profile) script. Perhaps when the server was trying to back up the system, it tries to put up a dialog. Because there is no GUI, it fails which defers the backup.