Cannot Manually Mount External HDD

[kiekar]

Case #07035154

Hello,

I'm trying to manually mount an external usb hdd unsuccessfully using recovery media and ssh. The error I recieve is "mount: /media/backup: mount point does not exist".
What am I doing wrong. Any help will be much apreciated.

Regards,

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Karl,

Why do you try mount device into /media/backup directory? There is no "backup" sub-directory.

Rovshan.

[kiekar]

Hello Rovshan,

The full path where my backups are located is /media/backup/Veeam/servername-serv2 mailcow_server.
I entered sudo mount /dev/sdc1 "/media/backup/Veeam/servername-serv2 mailcow_server" but still recieve /media/backup/Veeam/servername-serv2 mailcow_server: mount point does not exist
I enter the path between " " because servername-serv2 mailcow_server has a space.

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello,

Can you show output of following command, from Veeam Recovery Media SSH session, before attempting anything ?

Code: Select all

ls -l /media
find /media

Rovshan

[kiekar]

Hello,

veeamuser@veeam-recovery-iso:~$ ls -l /media
total 0
veeamuser@veeam-recovery-iso:~$ find /media
/media

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Karl,

The sub-directories you mentioned are not present in this scenario. This is because they are visible when the operating system is booted and all directories are mounted.

However, when booted from Veeam Media Recovery, you observe a directory with the same name, but it is located under the booted ISO.
You may attempt to mount USB HDD to a different directory.

Rovshan

[kiekar]

Hello Rovshan

However, when booted from Veeam Media Recovery, you observe a directory with the same name,

Do you mean /media

You may attempt to mount USB HDD to a different directory.

Not sure what you mean. The backup files are located in the path /media/backup/Veeam/hostname-serv2 mailcow_server

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello,

Do you mean /media

Yes, I do.

The backup files are located in the path /media/backup/Veeam/hostname-serv2 mailcow_server

And they are visible when system is boot, aren't they?

When you boot from Veeam Media Recovery, that mount point does not exist. Because system does not boot, hence nothing is being mounted.
Question: Is that mount point NFS/CIFS or local volume?

Rovshan

[kiekar]

Hello Rovshan,

they are visible when system is boot, aren't they?

Yes

Is that mount point NFS/CIFS or local volume?

Local Volume.

The reason I'm attempting to mount manually is because when trying to use the wizard by selecting Restore Volumes then Select Backup location, the external hdd was never visible.

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Karl,

Even if you mount a USB/HDD, it will be mounted to the Veeam Media Recovery runtime system.
Selecting and mounting a local disk will not display its content.

As you described your issue, related to the fact that you cannot see an external drive or removable storage device in the local disk list.

Please proceed with the case and await their findings.

Rovshan

[kiekar]

Hello Rovshan,

Thank you for taking the time with my issue trying to mount a hdd manually.

Over the past year starting in May of 2023 and onward I opened three case regarding not able to restore a backup due to not detecting my external hdd. Each time the case was closed after 7 days.

I may have to abondon using veeam as my backup tool.

Karl

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hi Karl,

Your case was closed without an answer because you have opened it for the community edition.
Community edition gets support on best effort. Best effort means, only if there is free capacity in our customer support team, cases from users of our free products will be worked on.
Please see our support policy for more information: https://www.veeam.com/support-policy.html

Back to your issue, try to do once of following:
- Copy content of the external USB/HDD into the local disk, new or existing, if you have storage capacity. If you cannot boot OS, use distribution's recovery media.
- Copy content of the external USB/HDD into the network file share or SMB and use it as backup source during recovery, if you have storage capacity.
- Create new custom recovery media (https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=60) and use to boot & list external devices again.

Rovshan

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Karl,

Please check the following Knowledge Base page, https://www.veeam.com/kb4183, specifically the 2nd scenario, which might be helpful for you.

Rovshan

[kiekar]

Hello Rovshan,

I recieved a reply back yesterday from support for the mounting issue. I am glad to say that I was able to mount the external usb hdd.

Before mounting the hdd I entered the command: sudo mkdir -p /media/backup then sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /media/backup.

I was able to navigate to my directory where the backup files were located.

Karl

[Jmarc]

Here's the complete solution for the USB drive not showing up in the list of local drives:

1) Select "Exit to Shell"

2) run lsblk and identify your USB drive
lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
loop0 7:0 0 547.4M 1 loop /usr/lib/live/mount/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
/run/live/rootfs/filesystem.squashfs
sdc 8:32 1 7.6G 0 disk
└─sdc1 8:33 1 7.6G 0 part /run/veeam-live-medium
sdd 8:48 1 114.6G 0 disk
└─sdd1 8:49 1 114.6G 0 part
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom

sdd1 is my NTFS USB drive

3) Create the mount point for your drive
sudo mkdir -p /media/backup

4) Mount the USB drive
sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sdd1 /media/backup

5) You need to MANUALLY import the backup! (your path will be different)
sudo veeamconfig backup import --path /media/backup/debian-nas-box/BackupJob1/BackupJob1.vbm
Importing backup: /media/backup/debian-nas-box/BackupJob1/BackupJob1.vbm
Backup imported successfully

6) Check that it's here:
veeamconfig backup list --all
Job name Backup ID Repository Created at
debian-nas-box BackupJob1 {e24270c0-59cb-4f32-bc73-31e5d9c025f7} Imported 2024-09-13 11:18

7) Run sudo veeam to return to the tool and select "Restore Volumes", it will show the list of imported backups:

IMPORTED BACKUPS │ RESTORE POINTS
debian-nas-box BackupJob1 debian-nas-box 3 │ 08:20 14-09-2024
│ 21:46 13-09-2024
│ 21:18 13-09-2024

Restore your volumes!

In summary:
---------------
lsblk
sudo mkdir -p /media/backup
sudo mount -t ntfs /dev/sdd1 /media/backup
sudo veeamconfig backup import --path /media/backup/debian-nas-box/BackupJob1/BackupJob1.vbm
veeamconfig backup list --all
sudo veeam

It took me a while to figure this out so you don't have to

[rovshan.pashayev]

Hello Jean-Marc,

Thank you for information.