How to make an external sdcard/usb drive mountable after restore?

[begunfx]

Okay, this may be a weird question. Let me provide a little background so my question may make more sense. I have two raspberry pis running pi-hole and keepalived. I have the primary backup on Saturday and the secondary backup on Sunday. The backups are being saved to a synology server via NFS which is mounted locally. Backups are working as expected (using the rsync default option). I also have two additional microSD card readers (USB) that I attached to the raspberry pis.

I was able to successfully restore to them. This is where my question comes in. What I would like to do is keep them attached to the pis and on occasion I can just run a restore to them - or after changes were made to the pis I can run a restore to them and then I have a backup microSD card ready to swap out. The problem I'm running into is once the restore is made, the drive won't mount anymore. I'm assuming it's because they have boot partitions on them after the restore. Is there a simple way to make the drives mountable so I can do additional restores to them? Otherwise I'd have to reformat the drive every time before another restore.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[framps]

The problem I'm running into is once the restore is made, the drive won't mount anymore.
I'm assuming it's because they have boot partitions on them after the restore

You should be able to mount the restored partitions. I just created a backup and restored it to an SD card and still can mount the SD card.

It's most probably not an issue with raspiBackup but some kind of Linux config/environment issue. Please keep FAQ38 in mind 😉

But it's an interesting issue and I'll try to help you.

1. What's the exact error message you get when you mount the restored backup?
2. Did you check the system log for errors?
3. Which OS do you use? Standard RaspianOS ?
4. You can get mount issues if partitions have same UUID, PARTUUID or LABELS. raspiBackup generates new PARTUUIDs on the restored system and you shouldn't get any duplicate IDs. Please provide the output of sudo blkid

What I would like to do is keep them attached to the pis and on occasion I can just run a restore to them - or after changes were made to the pis

Have you read this page ?

[begunfx]

Thanks @framps. I really appreciate the help. As a wrote my question/ask I had a feeling it was more in line for the Raspberry pi forum and not here.

1. I'm not seeing any errors when attaching the sdCard reader. Note: I'm using the Pis headless and just logging in via CLI.

2. I ran journalctl -p err -b to see what errors I'm getting since last boot. I also tried re-plugging in the sdcard reader (not seeing any new messages from it):

Mar 26 16:29:09 ServiceVault kernel: rp1-pio 1f00178000.pio: error -ENOENT: failed to contact RP1 firmware
Mar 26 16:29:09 ServiceVault bluetoothd[562]: src/plugin.c:plugin_init() Failed to init vcp plugin
Mar 26 16:29:09 ServiceVault bluetoothd[562]: src/plugin.c:plugin_init() Failed to init mcp plugin
Mar 26 16:29:09 ServiceVault bluetoothd[562]: src/plugin.c:plugin_init() Failed to init bap plugin
Mar 26 16:29:09 ServiceVault bluetoothd[562]: profiles/sap/server.c:sap_server_register() Sap driver initialization failed.
Mar 26 16:29:09 ServiceVault bluetoothd[562]: sap-server: Operation not permitted (1)
Mar 26 16:29:10 ServiceVault wpa_supplicant[692]: nl80211: kernel reports: Registration to specific type not supported
Apr 12 03:00:54 ServiceVault kernel: I/O error, dev loop0, sector 1048448 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
Apr 14 00:58:29 ServiceVault kernel: ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_fw_crashed: Firmware has halted or crashed
Apr 14 00:58:31 ServiceVault kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_bus_rxctl: resumed on timeout
Apr 14 00:58:31 ServiceVault kernel: brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_checkdied: firmware trap in dongle
Apr 14 00:58:31 ServiceVault kernel: ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_run_escan: error (-110)
Apr 14 00:58:31 ServiceVault kernel: ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_cfg80211_scan: scan error (-110)
Apr 14 00:58:31 ServiceVault kernel: ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_fil_cmd_data: bus is down. we have nothing to do.
Apr 14 00:58:31 ServiceVault kernel: ieee80211 phy0: brcmf_cfg80211_get_tx_power: error (-5)
Apr 14 00:58:32 ServiceVault wpa_supplicant[692]: Could not read interface wlan0 flags: No such device
Apr 14 00:58:32 ServiceVault wpa_supplicant[692]: Could not read interface p2p-dev-wlan0 flags: No such device
Apr 14 00:58:32 ServiceVault wpa_supplicant[692]: nl80211: kernel reports: Registration to specific type not supported

Nothing that I can see screams error except maybe "firmware trap in dongle"?

3. I'm running the standard RaspianOS

4. I get the following output when I run: sudo blkid

/dev/mmcblk0p1: LABEL_FATBOOT="bootfs" LABEL="bootfs" UUID="5DC7-F115" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="5f6d00e3-01"
/dev/mmcblk0p2: LABEL="rootfs" UUID="a36be96c-66be-4487-a7a6-0481bca99d89" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="5f6d00e3-02"

Seems like the sdcard reader isn't showing at all.

[framps]

Seems like the sdcard reader isn't showing at all.

That's weird. What happens if you unplug and plug in again the USB card reader? Try also sudo udevadm trigger to rediscover any USB devices.

[begunfx]

I had tried unplugging and re-plugging it. Same thing. I tried sudo udevadm trigger and then ran sudo blkid again but nothing.
I just go the sdcard readers. They are: "SanDisk QuickFlow microSD".

[framps]

Otherwise I'd have to reformat the drive every time before another restore.

raspiBackup creates partitions and formats the partitions during restore 🤔

Did you actually reformat the drive and then a mount works again? How did you reformat the drive?

[begunfx]

I hadn't tried to reformat the drives again after the restore. But yes, I had initially formatted the drives as fat32 using Raspberry Pi imager tool. I can try reformatting one of them and then see if it mounts again.

[framps]

Please try it. I frankly think it will not make a difference.

Are you sure your power supply is able to handle the required power of all connected devices? I've had a lot of issues with RPis when the power supply was insufficient.

[begunfx]

When I first purchased the pis I thought of using a USB power supply, then realized the power issues related so I purchased a power supply that is specifically used for raspberry pis. I'm not getting any system errors related to power (was having those before). I'll try reformatting one of the microsd cards and see if it mounts.

[begunfx]

Okay. I reformatted the microSD card and inserted it again in the pi. I ran the command sudo blkid and now it appears:

/dev/mmcblk0p1: LABEL_FATBOOT="bootfs" LABEL="bootfs" UUID="5DC7-F115" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="15a7517d-01"
/dev/mmcblk0p2: LABEL="rootfs" UUID="a36be96c-66be-4487-a7a6-0481bca99d89" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="15a7517d-02"
/dev/sda1: LABEL_FATBOOT="bootfs" LABEL="bootfs" UUID="9877-2E74" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="76d1947c-01"
/dev/sda2: UUID="f2d1de86-6204-4053-89ba-8ad1a438b586" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="76d1947c-02"

[framps]

As far as I can see you formatted the root partition only. What's the command you used?

[begunfx]

I just used the Raspberry Pi Imager tool on my mac. I assumed it would format the entire disk.

[framps]

Ok. I didn't know the imager can be used to format the device. I just use some commands in a command window to achieve this.

I'm sorry - but I have no idea any more why you have this issue 😢 .

As far as I can see it's not related to raspiBackup. Please create a thread in the Raspberry pi forum and ask for help. Please add a link to the new thread here for others who may face the same issue and mention me (framp) in the thread so I can follow the tread.

[begunfx]

Okay. Sounds good. No worries. I really appreciate you giving it a shot. Thank you!

[begunfx]

@framps I posted this topic in the Raspberry Pi forum. FYI - just for the hell of it I reformatted the microSD card using Mac's disk utility instead of the Raspberry Pi Imager and this time after I did a restore I do see the sd card. However, it's not appearing in /etc/fstab so I can't mount it. Thought you'd like to know. Will post this update on the Pi forum as well - just waiting for them to approve the post.

[framps]

and this time after I did a restore I do see the sd card.

Weird

However, it's not appearing in /etc/fstab so I can't mount it.

You don't have to have any config in /etc/fstab. Just use sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt or sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt

[begunfx]

Yeah, I tried to manually mount the drive and I was getting errors. I noticed in the dmesg log (when filtering for the sda drive) that when the backup completed the drive was unmounting. I did a little research and perhaps it is power related after all. The power supply isn't a USB powered plug but it is a 3rd party raspberry pi plug I got on Amazon. For the hell of it I ordered official Raspberry Pi power plugs - should be getting them tomorrow. I'll swap the plugs out and try doing another restore and see if the drive gets unmounted again. If it doesn't then the power was indeed the issue. Good times!

[begunfx]

Okay. I think the problem was actually user error. I tried the official raspberry pi power supplies and I had the same results. The issue I think boils down to my confusion on mounting the sd card once it is restored to. Prior to restore I see a mounted /dev/sda drive. However, after a restore, I no longer see /dev/sda but /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 which I can mount one or the other (now the restored data on those two partitions). I think it was my confusion that when I try to do an additional restore then I use /dev/sda, but if I want to mount the drive I need to specify the partitions that were created as a result of the restore. So I think I can use my existing power supplies.

As for the initial issue I was having instead of formatting the sd card using the raspberry pi imager tool I'm using the mac disk utility. that seems to work without issue. I'm gonna go ahead and close this. Thanks again for your time @framps!

[framps]

I think it was my confusion that when I try to do an additional restore then I use /dev/sda, but if I want to mount the drive I need to specify the partitions that were created as a result of the restore.

Ok. Unfortunately I didn't catch this. That's indeed the root cause of your issue.
/dev/sda is your device you use to restore the backup and the restore wipes the existing partitions on the device and creates new ones. And then you can mount these partitions with /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2.

Sorry I asked you to buy an additional power supply. But as I already wrote: A bad power supply creates various mysterious issues and therefore I strongly suggest to use the official Raspberry power supply only.

[begunfx]

Fair enough..Not a big deal buying the official power supplies. It was a worthy exercise. I'll stick with the official ones and return the one I can return. No worries about the miss. We got there eventually. ;-)