restore duplicity backup

[MarRic]

Motherboard failed DELLxps13 :'( . I had done a full backup 2 months prior with deja-dup (duplicity). I am unable to restore from deja-dup. When I select the external drive and folder from the restore button it says “No backups to restore”. There are 416 volumes listed in the manifest (opened with text editor). Everything is there – I just can’t get to it. Also tried several terminal commands found on the web from different sources but nothing is working – possibly because I am not replacing things in the command correctly – it is 2 years of data I would like to get back. 
I also pulled the hard drive from xps13 and used a usb SSD case hoping to be able to pull my data that way, but it doesn’t “load” and if I use the “disk” function, it sees it but says “no Media”.
Can anyone help? Or if there is another forum that would be better to ask on, please advise. Thank you.

[stevef]

Have you tried the instructions given in this link ?

https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/DejaDup/Help.../WorstCase

That web site also has a support option

There is also a forum on

https://answers.launchpad.net/deja-dup

Good luck

[MarRic]

Thanks stevef, looking through both links, very similar to other things I've tried, but will try some more. I will try asking some questions there.

[minesheep]

You have non encrypted backup on your external hdd? 416 volumes gives you total backup size of 10400MB or about 10GB is this correct? Did you only have 10GB of data to backup? When was your last full backup (the backup starting with duplicity-full)?

[MarRic]

Minesheep,

These are personal files (receipts, statements, spreadsheets, graphics files I like to work with and photos). So not a lot of "quantity" but the spreadsheets have data from crafts I make to sell, so they are important. I thought I was doing what I needed to do by running a backup when I had made multiple changes in things or added more photos to my library. The last time I deleted the old backups and ran a new full one. But believe me, after this experience, I will never bother with a backup again. Going forward I will just make more than one "copy" of my files/photos on the a couple of external hdds. Linux Lite is so easy to install and set up like I want, I really don't need the "system" backed up anyway.

I don't see how to tell what the sizes of the files were, but the largest photos were probably 2-3MB. A little more than half the volumes are photos, and lol I don't know how many there were. It literally was 2 years of files - since I had gotten the xps laptop. I am grateful that I have a couple of USB drives with my photos from before the laptop. This is the name of the manifest:

"duplicity-full.20200805T052212Z.manifest"

I'm just getting ready to try some different commands. It amazes me how many different ways there are to attempt to do something in Linux. It would help if I understood it all better, but I muddle through, because I refuse to use MSW.

[Paul74]

Hello,
I tried differents methods to back-up my LL disk onto an external USB disk.

The more efficient, for me, is to use Clonezilla booted from a USB stick.
Not really easy to understand the first time you will use it.

The other method is to use "dd" command.

[stevef]

It should just be three steps.

Obviously I don't know your filenames, so make sure you replace the examples I've used with your actual.

I've assumed your archive disk is unplugged at the start.
Right click on the desktop and click "open terminal here"
All commands within single quote marks like 'df h' are entered in the terminal window and require return/enter to action
Make sure not to type the quote mark and make sure to replace any example with actual

Step 1  Locating the directory containing your archive set.

Type the command 'df -h'

Plug in the drive with the archive files on it
Wait a few seconds for it to mount

retype 'df -h'

Compare the output of the two commands.  The second output should have an extra line for the archive disc.
Make a careful note of the "mounted on" field of the archive drive.  It will look something like

/media/example_yourname/example_yourdiskname

Type in 'cd /media/example_yourname/example_yourdisk' replacing example_yourname and example_yourdisk with the actual names you noted above.

Type in 'ls' to list the files and directories on the archive disk.

If you didn't specify a path when creating the archive you should see the files of the archive set.
You now have the location (/media/example_yourname/example_yourdiskname) so goto step 2

If you specified a path when making the archive you should now see the directory you made at the time.
Check the file set is in there

Type 'cd example_yourdirectoryname' and then 'ls'.

If you see the files of the archive set you now have the location you need (/media/example_yourname/example_yourdiskname/example_yourdirectoryname)

Step 2 Create a directory for the extraction

Type in 'cd ~' to take you to your home directory.  Use 'ls' to check.

Create a new directory called 'extracthere' in your home directory in which to try to extract the archive.

Type in 'mkdir -p extracthere'

Check it is there using 'ls'

Step 3 Attempt extraction

If you didn't encrypt your archive when you created it type in the following - make sure to replace the text after file:// with the path and directory you found in step 1.  If you used encryption leave off the ' --no-encryption' part.  The command will like

'duplicity --gio file:///media/example_yourname/example_yourdisk /home/example_yourname/extracthere --no-encryption'

or

'duplicity --gio file:///media/example_yourname/example_yourdisk/example_yourdirectory /home/example_yourname/extracthere --no-encryption'

If this works, it should unarchive all files you backed up into your home "extracthere" directory

If this doesn't work you need to show us what's going on.

[MarRic]

stevef, tried several similar commands and kept getting errors (not showing all those results since it's mute now) then saw your instructions. I had used a different folder in the temp directory per some other instructions, but changed to what you suggested, then ran this:

name[member=7193]Name[/member]-Vostro-200:~$ duplicity --gio file:///media/name/backupdisk/BACKUPS/XPS /home/name/extracthere --no-encryption
Warning: Option --gio is pending deprecation and will be removed in a future release.
Use of default filenames is strongly suggested.
Synchronizing remote metadata to local cache...
Deleting local /home/name/.cache/duplicity/b67cee400071617f5851271751eec4bf/duplicity-full-signatures.20200805T052212Z.sigtar.gz (not authoritative at backend).
Deleting local /home/name/.cache/duplicity/b67cee400071617f5851271751eec4bf/duplicity-full.20200805T052212Z.manifest (not authoritative at backend).
Last full backup date: none
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 1532, in <module>
    with_tempdir(main)
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 1526, in with_tempdir
    fn()
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 1380, in main
    do_backup(action)
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 1457, in do_backup
    restore(col_stats)
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 722, in restore
    restore_get_patched_rop_iter(col_stats)):
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 744, in restore_get_patched_rop_iter
    backup_chain = col_stats.get_backup_chain_at_time(time)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/duplicity/collections.py", line 970, in get_backup_chain_at_time
    raise CollectionsError("No backup chains found")
CollectionsError: No backup chains found

Notice the word "deleting" in the results above?? Now, the XPS folder is empty and everything is in my trash folder - with a lock on them, so unable to restore  :'( :'( .
Now researching how to restore files from trash that are locked 

[stevef]

The deleting message references duplicity tidying previously cached files before attempting the restore.
It doesn't refer to deleting the actual archive file set.
However duplicity can't find an archive set in the file location specified - 'Last full backup date : none'  'No backup chains found'

I can't see from what you've posted how the archive file set has ended in the trash folder but if they are there restoring should just be a case of right click on them followed by restore.

[minesheep]

Did you use any kind of hardware security (including bios password) on the original xps hdd/ssd? Have you checked the connection between usb case and hdd/ssd? Can you still copy the backup set from trash?