restore duplicity backup

[MarRic]

minesheep,
I did not use a password for any of these - the duplicity backup, the backup hdd, or the bios. The SSD was the drive from the xps laptop I put in a usb case but it didn't work, couldn't see anything on the SSD drive - could be it failed in-addition-to/instead-of the motherboard.

I could see the HDD backup drive in File Manager and manipulate mount and unmount from either the desktop icon or from "disks". I could see all the duplicity volume names before I tried the last command when it was all deleted. Then I noticed it all in the trash folder in File Manager - with my normal file folder names - but locked so right click restore did not work. I tried some more research and found "trash-cli" to use from terminal, tried it's restore (from trash) command , but I don't think it did anything. Tonight I remembered something else I'd seen but not tried - about hidden folders. I changed to show hidden files, then on the backup drive itself I could see my files in a trash folder there (with a period in front of the name) -- and they were not locked!! Yea!! I have my files back  . Some were not in my folders, they were all dumped together, but at least I have them. 

I've explained what happened in case anyone else has a similar issue, don't know if it will be of any help, since I don't really understand how it was resolved myself!

Thank you so much for trying to help.

[MarRic]

stevef,
Thank you again for your help and especially the detailed steps. I know that took some time and it was appreciated. 

Paul74,
Thank you for the suggestions of other backup methods.

[stevef]

MarRic,

You are welcome.  Have you recovered all your actual data or just found a hidden archive set ?  I hope you've got all your original files back - did you use duplicity or deja-dup to get your data out of the archive.

deja-dup should have worked first time, it would be good to understand why it couldn't find your files in the first place.

Can I suggest 'grsync' as an additional back up tool ?  With hindsight, it would have been a better solution for your problem.

My setup uses timeshift to backup the system state, deja-dup AND grsync to backup personal data files by different methods and clonezilla to cover both system and data.

[MarRic]

stevef,

Yes, I have recovered all my original files. Believe me, I wish I knew how it happened!

Did it happen when I ran the "duplicity --gio file" command you gave me and the files were deleted? Don't know since I was only seeing the locked files in the trash.
Or did it happen when I ran the command "trash-restore"? I don't know, since I ran it after that "duplicity --gio file" command and before I could see the hidden folder.
When I tried the "unhide hidden files" I could still see the locked files in the trash folder under File Manager, but the files in the "un-hidden" trash folder on the physical backup drive were not locked. That is how I was able to transfer them to my documents folder.
I had tried the "duplicity --gio file" command once before, from the link you'd provided, but had similar errors - except for the "deleting" part.

The one thing that was different between the first and second time I ran the command, was I had renamed the drive. It had defaulted to something with spaces in the name (Dell Portable HDD) when I first got it. I renamed to something without spaces just before you sent your instructions, then I also changed the name of the recovery folder to exactly what you used - although I doubt that had any bearing on the result. But did removing the spaces from the drive name? I don't know. Since each time I tried something after the second "gio" command when the backup folder was emptied, all I was seeing was the locked files - until I selected "show hidden files". 

Using deja-dup is really straight-forward (prefer the gui), I wish it had worked. Would it have worked if I had changed the drive name at that time? Don't know, since I didn't try it again after that and before trying "gio" again. But since I used deja-dup to create the backup on the drive with the long name with spaces, shouldn't it have "accepted" it in the restore process? It kept saying there was no backup file, when clearly it was there.

I have wondered if it didn't work because I was attempting to restore to a different computer, or because it was created on a 64bit pc, and I was attempting to restore on a 32bit pc. I was using an old PC to attempt the recovery because I wasn't sure how it would exactly work, if it restored my system by overwriting what was there I didn't want to use our desktop or my replacement laptop and erase anything current. Irony - that old pentium3 pc, 2GB ram, LL3.8 works way better than the used laptop I got which is i5-7200 and 8GB ram!! Still trying to figure that out and decide if I'm keeping the laptop.

I will try creating a backup with deja-dup and restoring on the same drive - in that old pc. Maybe I'll try 2 different ways - with/without spaces in the drive name. Going to try to format that SSD drive first - hoping to be able to use it for another backup drive.  I will post back when testing is complete. I will also look at grsync.

[MarRic]

Update...I tried 3 more times to first backup the old pc then run Deja-Dup to restore. I was not able to complete a restore from backup, I was documenting errors in a text file, but the old pc gave up the ship in the 3rd process. Either the mother board or the hard drive died, along with the text file of errors I'd saved. I do not have a hard drive enclosure with the correct cables to look at that drive and it is not worth it to me to purchase one. So Deja-Dup is a done deal for me.

I have reorganized my files back into their folders and I have 3 copies of the documents/pictures/music. One copy stays in the car so if the house burns down while I'm not home I have my files. I looked at grsync, it has a lot more options to select and since I don't understand their purpose will hold off on trying it. If I don't like having just copies and tire of keeping changed files updated in 3 locations (which will probably happen sooner rather than later, haha), I will look at it again.

I also attempted to format the drive in the enclosure from the xps13...in that process I learned it wasn't the mother board that had died, it was the ssd! So, replaced the drive, and I have a functioning XPS13 again!! Yea!! Really happy.

Thanks again for the help and suggestions.