USB Stick Memory backups
 

Hi, I am using Mandriva 2010.2. My PC has SdA, a 320GB SATA with 2010 on it and SdB, an 80GB drive with 2007 on it. I have bought 2 USB sticks for backups. Using the disk manager I have formatted them as SdC with the EXT4 FS. I have mounted them on /media/disk. If I try to drag anything to the stick I get "access denied". If I use chmod 777 on /media/disk, it lets me write BUT, it does not write to the stick, it makes another copy on the hard drive under /media/disk. I have been using Dolphin to drag the data to /media/disk to try to copy. How do I get the data onto the stick?

Hi,

You may need to set permissions as well...create a destination folder on the stick(s), become Root (for a moment) and give the regular user full permissions to that folder, and check these for the /media/disk as well...
Then, give the regular user (you, in fact) ownership of the folder.

I think that should do it...

Thor

Thanks for the help. I think my problem is as much with Dolphin. I have got the 2 sticks formatted XFS4 and they are mounted as /media/disk-1 and /media/disk-2. For some reason the disk manager set them as SdC1 and SdD1 this time whereas before it did not distinguish between the 2. Now going into Dolphin I do not have the normal menu at the top of the window (the one with File, Edit etc on it). I also had the contents of my directory laid out with all files including .hidden (system) files showing but it has now reverted to folders only and I cannot find how to reverse that. I have checked the "show hidden files" in the properties but it still does not show them. I am trying to back up my docs AND the .thunderbird file for my emails and some other .files. Sorry to be such a pain but this is driving me nuts, can you help? Is there a better software package to use than Dolphin?

we have had similar problems with Dolphin in Mandriva
try using Konqueror instead


floppy

Thanks for the replies. I have got my proper toolbars back in Dolphin. I have also got back the display of hidden files in Dolphin. I have tried again to put this data onto the stick but it still insists on copying to /media/disk-1 but into a directory on the hard drive, NOT onto the stick. I have changed the permissions to 777 and the ownership to me for both /media/disk-1 and disk-2. Konqueror seems to be a browser, how would I use that to access the stick? I have filerunner on the system and I have tried to use that but I get the same result, copied to the hard drive and not to the stick. I have another machine with Mandriva 2010.2 on it. I am checking these attempts by plugging the stick into that and opening it with Dolphin. All it shows is a directory called "Lost and Found" but no data. Where do I go from here?

OK, I can put this one to bed. I used local disk manager in the configuration manager and formatted a stick. I mounted it in /var/ftp and I got a result. The problem is at the heart of Linux. When you format the stick, you need to toggle to expert mode. You need to give it permission to be mounted by any user, THEN format it, THEN choose the mount point THEN mount it, at which point you are asked to save the details to Fstab, say yes. Now you use console, chmod 777 and chown (user) for the directory you mounted it. Now Dolphin can transfer the data. Fstab is the problem here as it is not up to date with removable media. If there is a mount instruction in Fstab and, at boot up, it does not find the device, it self edits the mount instruction out of the file. With removable media it is not likely that the device is needed every time SO, Fstab needs to be modified to recognise removable media and NOT edit the mount instruction out if that device is not present. Good software is all about automation and. perhaps, all this work can be put in a special program for stick memory or, better still, Dolphin might be tweaked to see stick memory and automatically handle it. I will leave the thread open for 48 hours in case anyone wishes to comment. then I will mark it closed,

Joe.