HDD Backup Package?

Ezra Pound said:
It look like you need something like af123's solution in #9 above
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Right yes - I'd read that post as backing up with a copy in each place but then looking at the actual code (not something I do very often professionally or otherwise!!) I can see the 'delete after' bit. Good shoutEP, thanks
 
It seems to me there could be another "magic folder" set up so that anything dropped into it gets decrypted (if not already) and then synced to a configurable destination (network or USB), with or without local deletion.
 
oijonesey said:
Right yes - I'd read that post as backing up with a copy in each place but then looking at the actual code (not something I do very often professionally or otherwise!!) I can see the 'delete after' bit. Good shoutEP, thanks
Click to expand...
The '--delete-after' option will delete files on the destination that do no exist on the source (i.e. create a mirror of the source). I think you would need to replace '--delete-after' with '--remove-sent-files' in order to perform a 'move' operation.
 
If we can go down the magic folder route as proposed by BH above what will the Humax do with the file if it powers off (scheduled off, times out or even 04:30 OTA if not disabled) while still copying? Will it mess up the file in progress or start again/recover on power up? I do like the idea of using the OSD to pick something to shift onto the NAS and then being able to forget about it. I suppose though the only thing would be that you'd need one magic folder per destination on the NAS? (e.g. a Films one for me and a Kids one for the Fire/Pig/Train/Underwater related programs - oh hang on, then there's one for the Kids films, more for my Chan, Li, Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Statham libraries!!!). Having said that I can housekeep directly on the NAS once the recordings are there but hey since when did we ever let compromise stifle our unbounded collective ability to come up with huge lists of requirements!!!

So to that end, and because yet again I am blissfully unconstrained by technical capability or an understanding of what is easy or hard here is what I would like to be able to do in a Backup/Content Management facility
  • Review recordings on the box (existing webif is already fine for me and can use phone or laptop to do it rather than interrupting viewing but some might prefer standard OSD)
  • Pick recordings I want moved off the box and onto something else (hopefully with multiple file selections)
  • Choose exactly where on the destination device I'd like to move the stuff to (including networked/USB devices even if it required the network share automount to enable it) - maybe even including creating new folders if required? Or just select whole folders rather than individual files?
  • Also be able to select folders to monitor regularly so ongoing series links would move the new episodes for me (for what I call Miranda, such fun!! :D)
  • I guess to make it a one stop shop then the ability to delete/move files on the destination devices would also be good so you can do all your moving, syncing/backing up and space making on any visible device all from the same screen.
  • An "all in one" button for those times when you want to re-format or fear an impending failure/return - this might need to check for things that would interrupt it (like OTA not being disabled, sleep timers etc etc) and advise or even resolve?
  • Pre-Requisites or maybe Options would have to be things like having the packages to ensure all files are decrypted already (or if not then as part of the backup?) maybe some might want to choose to include/ignore HD/SD recordings for space reasons?
I think most of this is possible in seperate features/functions/commands etc but having something to bring all this together in a screen would be pretty cool.
 
I have (belatedly) set up a USB HDD (showing on the Humax as "My Passport"), and am ready to try running rsync. But I've no experience of Linux, and need some assistance:
  1. rsync is not listed as an available package. Is it installed as part of the WebIF? (I've installed dropbear-ssh, since another posting suggested that it was best to use this as an SSH server.)
  2. Is the syntax that I need to use (based on an earlier suggestion for a chron entry): rsync --archive --delete-after --log-file=/mod/tmp/rsync.log /media/My\ Video/ /media/My Passport/
  3. Is the "/media/My\ Video/ " part of 2 correct? (It doesn't mean much to me.)
  4. How do input the command? (I've tried running the command using the Telnet cli, and got the error message "/bin/sh: rsync: not found)
Any assistance would be much appreciated.
 
Ubtree said:
rsync is not listed as an available package. Is it installed as part of the WebIF?
Click to expand...
Do you have "Show advanced packages" (or words to that effect) turned on in the WebIF settings? Turn that on and you should see rsync listed in the available packages (do a package update first). Once you have it the "not found" problem should disappear.
 
Black Hole said:
Do you have "Show advanced packages" (or words to that effect) turned on in the WebIF settings? Turn that on and you should see rsync listed in the available packages (do a package update first). Once you have it the "not found" problem should disappear.
Click to expand...
I've now done that, and installed rsync. But I still have problems with the defining the directory paths. The following error messages resulted from the command:
rsync: change_dir "/media/Video" failed: No such file or directory (2)​
rsync: link_stat "/media/My" failed: No such file or directory (2)​
rsync: mkdir "/Passport/Video" failed: No such file or directory (2)​
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at main.c(587) [Receiver=3.0.8]​
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (9 bytes received so far) [sender]​
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(601) [sender=3.0.8]​
​
So, I need to know how to specify correctly:
  • the path for the video files on the Humax's HDD
  • the path for the USB HDD (bearing in mind that the disk name is "My Passport" ie. it includes a space)
 
Ubtree : Is the "/media/My\ Video/ " part of 2 correct?
Click to expand...
You don't need the '/' forward slash between 'My' and 'Video' if you use quote marks, so either of the below will work :-
Code: 
cd '/media/My Video'
cd /media/My\ Video
Linux isn't keen on spaces between words, you can get around it by using quotes or forward slashes but not both
Edit
Just realised you only used quote marks for clarity. There are some notes on rsync in the WiKi HERE
 
Ezra Pound said:
You don't need the '/' forward slash between 'My' and 'Video' if you use quote marks, so either of the below will work :-
Code: 
cd '/media/My Video'
cd /media/My\ Video/
Linux isn't keen on spaces between words, you can get around it by using quotes or forward slashes but not both
Edit
Just realised you only used quote marks for clarity
There are some notes on rsync in the WiKi HERE
Click to expand...
Thank you. That's very helpful. Another step forward!

I have now used the following command:
mod/bin/rsync --archive --delete-after --log-file=/mod/tmp/rsync.log '/media/My Video/' '/media/My Passport/'​

A synchronisation did start:
a new folder, "_original", was created​
the Humax started to copy one file, but on trying to play it, the message "Recording failed: unknown error" is displayed.​
​
Errors are still being generated:
rsync: writefd_unbuffered failed to write 4092 bytes to socket [sender]: Broken pipe (32)​
rsync: write failed on "/media/My Passport/Adaptation_20130228_2059.ts": No space left on device (28)​
rsync error: error in file IO (code 11) at receiver.c(322) [receiver=3.0.8]​
rsync: connection unexpectedly closed (31 bytes received so far) [sender]​
rsync error: error in rsync protocol data stream (code 12) at io.c(601) [sender=3.0.8]​
​
And the Humax is reporting the drive strangely: when the external drive is connected 2 USB devices are now shown, both called "My Passport".

Can you suggest where I should go from here?

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I'm afraid the only (fairly obvious) thing I can see in the Error list above is the 'No space left on device' suggesting that the drive is full. I haven't used rsync myself but there is a Forum Thread about it that may help HERE
 
I think you are using the wrong mount point. "My Passport" is the name of the device but is is unlikely to appear as that under /meda. External drives usually appear as /media/drive1 or /media/drive2 etc. Try typing 'df -h' to see where the disks are mounted and how much space if free. I suspect that the /media ram disk has now run out of space.
 
xyz321 said:
I think you are using the wrong mount point. "My Passport" is the name of the device but is is unlikely to appear as that under /meda. External drives usually appear as /media/drive1 or /media/drive2 etc.
Click to expand...
You're absolutely right. I've now used "drive1" instead of "My Passport", and the Humax is diligently synchonising. Thank you very much, Ezra, Martin and xyz321.

Now I just need to insert an entry in the cron file, and hopefully I'll be able to do that without too many problems.
 
OK.... I understand how to create an entry in the cron (thanks to Ezra's earlier post), but do I need to add a line to wake up the Humax before the sync runs, and can I add a line to put the Humax back to sleep after a certain period of time? If so, could anyone give me the syntax for these?
 
There's no way to wake the Humax up other than to set a timer or a reminder. Not sure about putting it into standby.
 
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