How to do backups to an external disk inside emergency mode

[Suvayu Ali]

On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 10:21:11PM +0000, Paul Smith wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 10:14 PM, Joe Zeff <joe at zeff.us> wrote:
> >> Actually, I am not so sure that my hard disk is corrupted. I have just
> >> filed the following bug report:
> >>
> >> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=904853
> >
> >
> > What happens when you boot from a LiveCD?  Does the hard drive mount? If so,
> > are you able to read the files on it?  If you are, that means that the drive
> > itself is probably not the problem.  Give it a test and add a comment to the
> > bug giving the results because it will save time and effort for whoever
> > looks at it.  (If nothing else, they won't have to ask you for that info and
> > wait for a response.)
> 
> Thanks, Joe. Indeed, I can access to my home directory from inside the
> live CD environment, and I am copying my files to my external disk
> with no problem.
> 
> I am going to add this comment to the bug report.
> 

I believe what Joe meant was to run a SMART test and see if the drive is
okay or not.  You can run this test in parallel with other tasks, so you
could keep the backup running while the drive tests itself for errors.

  # smartctl -t long /dev/sda  # assuming sda is the drive in question

As for your original problem, could you please give more information?  I
see that you have started at least 4 threads in the last few days
related to it but none of them states the problem clearly.  Given the
expertise available on this list, I would start a thread with all the
pertinent information about your original problem.

Hope this helps,

-- 
Suvayu

Open source is the future. It sets us free.