Robert wrote:
<snip original stuff>
> I noticed the chorus of agreement that your problem was likely a
> result of failure to mount your backup drive. My backup script, which
> also uses rsync begins like this, insuring a good mount before shoving
> bytes around. It's not SUPPOSED to be mounted before the script runs
> but I test for that, too. (The drive label is OTOT):
>
> #!/bin/bash
> # Backup using rsync and rotating directories
> #
> #Set the Dest. Mount
> UD=/media/OTOT
> MS=8388608 # Minimum free space 8GB
> #
> # Drive mount logic:
> #
> if [ -z $(mount | grep $UD | awk '{ print $3 }') ]; then
> mount $UD
> fi
> if [ -z $(mount | grep $UD | awk '{ print $3 }') ]; then
> echo "Drive refuses to mount!!"
> exit 1
> fi
> #
> # Drive is mounted. Get device name
> #
> XDR=$(mount | grep $UD | awk '{ print $1 }')
>
> etc., etc.
>
Thanks Robert, Ned, William, et al (no offense intended to the many not
named here), who replied with the need for logic and for checking that
all devices, including the ext HDD, were connected to the UPS.
Re: Logic in the script: no doubt, I will be modifying it to check for
valid mount point before starting. As always, I'm learning from my
mistakes :)
As for the server having been up, I think what happened was the server
and the HDD (which was connected to the UPS) went down before the rsync
was scheduled to run. When power was lost, the mount point wasn't
properly released. When it came back up and online, the USB drive was
mounted to /media/bkup_ (trailing _ provided by the system) which turned
out to be a folder on /, not a pointer to the external drive.
Again, thanks for the tips, pointers and sound ideas.
-Ray