Drakbackup - Won't Record to DVD (SOLVED-Sort of!)

[Cheemag]

  What am I doing wrong here?    Same error whether I insert DVD-R or DVD+RW.

  /dev/hdb is a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-116D.

  Drakbackup says the media is not writeable.

Code:

file: /var/lib/drakbackup/backup_incr_sys_20100209_142240.tar.gz
/etc/drakxtools/drakbackup/drakbackup.conf
/etc/drakxtools/drakbackup/drakbackup_catalog
file: /var/lib/drakbackup/backup_incr_user_root_20100209_142240.tar.gz

No list file: /var/lib/drakbackup/list_incr_user_root_20100209_142240.txt
file: /var/lib/drakbackup/backup_incr_user_jim_20100209_142240.tar.gz

/home/jim/.xsession-errors

Drakbackup activities via CD:


Check for media in drive:
wodim dev=/dev/hdb -atip

Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
Version        : 0
Response Format: 2
Capabilities   :

[Cheemag]

By way of a PS:

It crashes (locks up/ceases to respond) when trying to do the same backup to:   system:/media/sda5/Backup  !!

[Cheemag]

 

  I'll try another forum, Linux Questions forum or another distro.

[Was_Just19]

I tried it yesterday here and it backed up OK to a HDD.

I used the GUI in PCC without problems.

So I have no idea what you are "doing wrong".   

[Cheemag]

I tried it yesterday here and it backed up OK to a HDD.

I used the GUI in PCC without problems.

So I have no idea what you are "doing wrong".   

  It isn't a problem of backing up to HDD.

  I haven't tried using Drakbackup to back up to HDD, but I have used Grsync to back up to HDD with success.

  However, neither Grsync nor Drakbackup will back up to a DVD writer, although K3b will write to it.

  Grsync gives me this with a DVD+RW:

Code:

rsync: failed to set times on "/media/cdrom/.": Read-only file system (30)
rsync: recv_generator: mkdir "/media/cdrom/jim" failed: Read-only file system (30)
*** Skipping any contents from this failed directory ***
rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors)
(code 23) at main.c(1042) [sender=3.0.7]

and this with a DVD-R:

Code:

rsync: failed to set times on "/media/cdrom/.": Operation not permitted (1)
rsync: recv_generator: mkdir "/media/cdrom/jim" failed: Permission denied (13)
*** Skipping any contents from this failed directory ***
rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors)
  (code 23) at main.c(1042) [sender=3.0.7]

.

[Was_Just19]

It crashes (locks up/ceases to respond) when trying to do the same backup to:   system:/media/sda5/Backup  !!

Well I thought the above indicated a problem when trying to back up to a HDD. Sure looks that way to me.

If you wish to write to a RW media then that media must have a file system on it and be mounted as RW by the user.
Usually that means putting a UDF filesystem on a DVD RW and writing to that.

As far as I am aware Rsync cannot write to block devices ......  it needs the file system in place. I guess the same applies to DrakBackup .......

[Cheemag]

It crashes (locks up/ceases to respond) when trying to do the same backup to:   system:/media/sda5/Backup  !!

Well I thought the above indicated a problem when trying to back up to a HDD. Sure looks that way to me.

If you wish to write to a RW media then that media must have a file system on it and be mounted as RW by the user.
Usually that means putting a UDF filesystem on a DVD RW and writing to that.

As far as I am aware Rsync cannot write to block devices ......  it needs the file system in place. I guess the same applies to DrakBackup .......

You've lost me now ... file system? Mounted by the user?

The DVD+RW had been formatted with InCD on an XP machine, so it does have a file system on it.

The concept of putting a file system on a DVD-R is quite beyond me. How can you have a file
system on blank -R media?

K3 seems to be able to use the device with +R media, why not the others?

All newbie questions I'm afraid.

[Old-Polack]

It crashes (locks up/ceases to respond) when trying to do the same backup to:   system:/media/sda5/Backup  !!

Well I thought the above indicated a problem when trying to back up to a HDD. Sure looks that way to me.

If you wish to write to a RW media then that media must have a file system on it and be mounted as RW by the user.
Usually that means putting a UDF filesystem on a DVD RW and writing to that.

As far as I am aware Rsync cannot write to block devices ......  it needs the file system in place. I guess the same applies to DrakBackup .......

You've lost me now ... file system? Mounted by the user?

The DVD+RW had been formatted with InCD on an XP machine, so it does have a file system on it.

The concept of putting a file system on a DVD-R is quite beyond me. How can you have a file
system on blank -R media?

K3 seems to be able to use the device with +R media, why not the others?

All newbie questions I'm afraid.

Any media formatted with a proprietary Windows application file system is not likely to work with a standards compliant Linux system. You can't put a file system on a DVD-R without that process being considered a burn process, with which a DVD-R gets only one, resulting in a non writable disk.

You can backup to compressed archive files of your choice, then copy those archive files to a DVD disk, or simply copy the uncompressed files to a DVD disk, to back them up. You don't need a "backup" application to do the latter, just k3b. You are trying to make a very simple process overly complicated.

How about just telling us what end result you want, and letting us explain how to get that result. 

[Was_Just19]

It crashes (locks up/ceases to respond) when trying to do the same backup to:   system:/media/sda5/Backup  !!

Well I thought the above indicated a problem when trying to back up to a HDD. Sure looks that way to me.

If you wish to write to a RW media then that media must have a file system on it and be mounted as RW by the user.
Usually that means putting a UDF filesystem on a DVD RW and writing to that.

As far as I am aware Rsync cannot write to block devices ......  it needs the file system in place. I guess the same applies to DrakBackup .......

You've lost me now ... file system? Mounted by the user?

The DVD+RW had been formatted with InCD on an XP machine, so it does have a file system on it.

The concept of putting a file system on a DVD-R is quite beyond me. How can you have a file
system on blank -R media?

K3 seems to be able to use the device with +R media, why not the others?

All newbie questions I'm afraid.

I referred to RW media for the file system.

IIRC  InCD puts some form of proprietary stuff on the media which means it cannot be written to successfully by Linux. Linux should be able to read it though.

I would suggest that you save whatever you are backing up on a HDD or Flash drive and have K3b write it to your chosen optical media.
K3b will also do Session disks although I have not had occasion to use those.

In KDE3 there are some tools for setting up DVD-RW media with a UDF filesystem, but it has never been absolutely reliable for me using RW media.
Using DVD-RAM it has worked well.

regards.

[cyrwyn]

I noticed that your system identified your drive as "removable CD-ROM". Surely that isn't right. Have you ever burned any Cd or DVD on it? What does K3B report?

[Cheemag]

It crashes (locks up/ceases to respond) when trying to do the same backup to:   system:/media/sda5/Backup  !!

Well I thought the above indicated a problem when trying to back up to a HDD. Sure looks that way to me.

If you wish to write to a RW media then that media must have a file system on it and be mounted as RW by the user.
Usually that means putting a UDF filesystem on a DVD RW and writing to that.

As far as I am aware Rsync cannot write to block devices ......  it needs the file system in place. I guess the same applies to DrakBackup .......

You've lost me now ... file system? Mounted by the user?

The DVD+RW had been formatted with InCD on an XP machine, so it does have a file system on it.

The concept of putting a file system on a DVD-R is quite beyond me. How can you have a file
system on blank -R media?

K3 seems to be able to use the device with +R media, why not the others?

All newbie questions I'm afraid.

Any media formatted with a proprietary Windows application file system is not likely to work with a standards compliant Linux system. You can't put a file system on a DVD-R without that process being considered a burn process, with which a DVD-R gets only one, resulting in a non writable disk.

You can backup to compressed archive files of your choice, then copy those archive files to a DVD disk, or simply copy the uncompressed files to a DVD disk, to back them up. You don't need a "backup" application to do the latter, just k3b. You are trying to make a very simple process overly complicated.

How about just telling us what end result you want, and letting us explain how to get that result. 

  I was simply trying to use the application provided to make a backup.

  In the end I was successful in making a live CD, which will only run on the PCLinuxOS machine, but that is no great problem. That was done the usual way: get MakeLiveCD to make an .ISO (less /home) then burn that to a DVD+R with K3b and also to copy the .ISO to a large HDD on a Windows machine on the network.

  /home was then written out to the second HD on the PCLos system using Grsync as well as being backed up on the Windows machine.  Belt-and-braces approach.

  What puzzles me is that Drakbackup sees the DVD writer (not just the media in it) as a ROM device, while K3b is able to use it normally - except that K3b won't format read/write media, only erase. I take it from this that Linux is unable to treat RW media in the same way as InCD does, i.e. as media which can be written to on the fly, just like a hard drive or pen-drive.

  I have now achieved the result I want; perhaps I expected too much of Drakbackup. My query wasn't so much that I couldn't make a backup, but rather some concern that some applications were treating a RW device as a ROM device. Grsync sees it as a ROM drive as well.

[Cheemag]

I noticed that your system identified your drive as "removable CD-ROM". Surely that isn't right. Have you ever burned any Cd or DVD on it? What does K3B report?

   Drakbackup and Grsync both see the DVD-RW as a "CD-ROM" which is incorrect. I assure you it an RW device which is seen by the system as such.

  Yes, K3b writes CDs and DVDs normally.

[Was_Just19]

K3b won't format read/write media, only erase. I take it from this that Linux is unable to treat RW media in the same way as InCD does, i.e. as media which can be written to on the fly, just like a hard drive or pen-drive.

That is correct ------  K3b does not 'format' RW media. You need different tools to do that ... to write the file system to the media.

Linux can indeed treat suitable optical media as RW media, provided it has been prepared with a file system (formatted) first ......... just like a pen drive or HDD etc. CD-RW media is not suitable IIRC.

Even so DVD-RAM as opposed to DVD-RW is more consistent in my experience.

regards.

[Old-Polack]

I noticed that your system identified your drive as "removable CD-ROM". Surely that isn't right. Have you ever burned any Cd or DVD on it? What does K3B report?

   Drakbackup and Grsync both see the DVD-RW as a "CD-ROM" which is incorrect. I assure you it an RW device which is seen by the system as such.

  Yes, K3b writes CDs and DVDs normally.

Drakbackup and Grsync are applications that write to file systems, as stated before, and are not burner applications. They will only write to hard drives, USB pendrives, tape drives, or formatted RW media, (think DVD-RAM) when it's mounted as a writable file system. K3b is a burner application, which is an entirely different thing.

[Old-Polack]

JohnBoy:

Got that echo in here again.