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Do I use rsync or cp?
by Chris Walker 26 Feb '13

26 Feb '13

In the recent past I asked about fixing a RAID array on a NAS drive and was kindly given some advice by Mark Rogers. Plainly a sensible option and which was included in the advice, was to have a backup. So yesterday I went out and bought a USB3 1 TB external drive along with a new USB 3 card. I've bunged the card in and got all sorts of errors, something about 'ring error' which from my brief searches relates to the kernel being too old. I'll attend to that later as I can still use the new drive on a USB 2 port. Granted it will take longer but I can live with that. My question is how should I safely copy everything off my NAS box on to the new drive? Should I just use cp or rsync? The emphasis here is 'safely' as I want to make sure I copy everything off the NAS and back again in case that goes 'nipple north'. If it helps, here's what I want to copy from - //storage_server/Laptop_Share on /media/Laptop_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) //storage_server/FTP_RAID_C on /media/linux_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) //storage_server/Epox_Share on /media/Epox_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) //storage_server/Media_Share on /media/Media_Share type cifs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev) In the past I would simply have cp'd everything off but having watched the recent discussions on rsync, it has prompted me to ask this question here. Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] 3rd Monday Monthly Ipswich Social Meeting : The Mulberry Tree
by samwise 18 Feb '13

18 Feb '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- The monthly "Third Monday" ALUG Ipswich Social Meeting is back tonight, 18th February, at 20:00: The Mulberry Tree 5 Woodbridge Road IPSWICH IP4 2EA Tel: 01473 225776 Map/Directions URI: http://maps.google.co.uk/?q=IP4+2EA WWW: https://www.facebook.com/MULBERRYHOSPITALITY The Mulberry Tree, previously known as The Milestone Beer House, is a grade 2 listed building in the centre of Ipswich. It is located at the intersection between Woodbridge Road and the A1156, across the road from the old Odeon cinema and not far from the Regent Theatre. It re-opened on Thursday March 29th 2012 after a major refurbishment, under its original name of The Mulberry House and has already begun to regain a good reputation for its selection of beers and ales. It has a sizeable car park to the rear of the building. All are welcome, novices and experienced users. Feel free to ask for further information on the Main ALUG mailing list. I may be late to arrive tonight, so feel free to email / call me to find out where I am if you're planning on popping along. Cheers, Peter. ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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I thought I understood rsync, but clearly I don't
by mick 16 Feb '13

16 Feb '13

As it says really. I need some advice on an rsync mechanism I use to routinely backup my desktop to my NAS. The command I have used for some time is: /usr/bin/rsync -rLptgoDvz --stats / --exclude-from=rsync-excludes /home/mick nas:/home/mick-backup ("/" indicates line break above and is not part of the command line) That has worked fine for some long time, but I have just upgraded my desktop disk from 1TB to 2TB. In the process of doing so I moved the old disk to a new SATA port so that I could just copy across internally all my data from the old disk to the new. In doing so (using something like "cp -r /old-disk/micks-stuff /new-disk/micks-stuff") like a pillock I forgot to add the -p switch so all my files now have a current date/time as last modified. Guess what? My latest rsync now seems to be updating ALL by backed up files (over 800 GB of videos/photos/music etc) to the NAS. This will take some time. I thought that rsync used a rather more sophisticated algorithm (including checksums for example) than simply a check of last modified time stamp. In trying to reduce the file transfer I have tried modifying the rsync command by taking out the -t switch, but of course that doesn't work, all that happens is that the target file date/time remains unmodified after the copy. So, short of actually letting the rsync run to completion, can anyone suggest a better approach (and yes, I know I could have saved myself a lot of pain by being more careful earlier....) Cheers Mick --------------------------------------------------------------------- blog: baldric.net gpg fingerprint: FC23 3338 F664 5E66 876B 72C0 0A1F E60B 5BAD D312 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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"Correct" way to mount CIFS shares after network comes up and unmount them before it comes down
by Mark Rogers 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

As per subject really! On my old PC I had CIFS entries in fstab and scripts in /etc/network/if-up.d and if-down.d, and whilst the mount worked well the unmount usually locked the PC on shutdown (SysRq-B was about the only thing it would respond to). I now have a new PC so I want to set this up correctly. All I want is that when eth0 comes up, several Samba shares are mounted, and before eth0 goes down they are unmounted (forcibly if necessary). I've looked at upstart as a possibility but I don't see how to run a script before networking goes down, unless I edit the relevant network script (I don't want to change system scripts). In case I'm overcomplicating this, all I really want is a handful of shares to be available whenever the network is, and for them not to cause me problems if I restart or shutdown networking. I'm using Kubuntu 12.10 -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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JOB: QA Engineer
by James Tobin 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

Hello, I'm working with an employer that is looking to hire both experienced and graduate QA Engineers. This would be a permanent position working from home. You should have: 1. An interest in programming as well as open source databases; 2. Test development skills using C++/Java as well as scripting languages like Python, Ruby, Perl. Please email me using jamesbtobin(a)gmail.com to learn more. All the best, James

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Two network switches free to a good home
by Srdjan Todorovic 15 Feb '13

15 Feb '13

Hi all, I've got 2 network switches free to a good home. They are untested (fans spin and LEDs light up, but not tested network ports), but I have no reason to suspect they are duff. They are: 1. CentreCOM FS716 16-port 10/100 mbps switch. 2. Netgear FS518T 18-port switch. 10/100 mbps for ports 1-16 (I think) and 1 Gbps for ports 17 and 18. Both do not have the auto mdix thingy so you will need correct patch ethernet cables (port 16 has the ToPC / ToHub toggle button on both switches). Both are powered using mains kettle cable (not supplied). Both have fans (the Netgear is a fair bit louder). Both are about the same size, just bigger than A4 paper I'd think, and metal cased, about 1U high. Google the dimensions if you want. I can bring them both in to this week's ALUG meet in Norwich. If anyone wants them, let me know so I can stick them in the car for the meet. Regards, Srdjan

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Web site archiving
by Bev Nicolson 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I could use Scrapbook to save web pages but is there something I can use to save multiple pages or entire sites? It's just for personal use. Any ideas? Bev.

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CAD "lite" for DIY projects
by Mark Rogers 14 Feb '13

14 Feb '13

I'm looking for a simple CAD tool for basic DIY projects. The project I have in mind at the moment is a wall-to-wall bookshelf comprised of 40x35cm "boxes", made from 18mm MDF, laid out like bricks (ie each row offset 50% against the ones below/above it). I want to get a feel for what it will look like, and want to be able to change things like the MDF sheet widths (eg what would it look like if the higher rows were made from 12mm MDF instead), box colours, etc. 3D would be great but non-essential. I got some way mocking something up in Inkscape but it's not really the right tool for the job. -- Mark Rogers // More Solutions Ltd (Peterborough Office) // 0844 251 1450 Registered in England (0456 0902) @ 13 Clarke Rd, Milton Keynes, MK1 1LG

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RAID advice
by Chris Walker 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

Hopefully somebody can give me some advice. I have an Edimax NS2502 NAS device with 2 x 1TB drives in it arranged as RAID 1. When I first had it, I started to fill it up and then wanted to check that everything was working ok so removed one drive and saw that everything was still showing. I then removed the first disc and refitted the second and saw that everything was still there. Satisfied that it was all working, I have left it running ever since with the 2 drives. But ever since my experiment, the drive lights on the front have continued to flash as though they're being accessed. Worried that I might have screwed something up, I looked at the options and found one called 'Fix RAID'. That is there apparently for use if one drive fails. Should I use this to make sure that everything is 'synced' across both the drives in my box? I've tried googling this for advice but all I've found is the acknowledgement that the option is there but nothing on whether it should be used or not. Any help appreciated.

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[ALUG Announce] ALUG Norwich Pub Meet Thursday 14th February
by Viperfang 12 Feb '13

12 Feb '13

ALUG Announce Please send announcements to Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce ----- Hello Norwich Aluggers, Our monthly ALUG Norwich social meeting will be held this Thursday, 14th February at The Coach and Horses (82 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1BA). The meeting officially starts at 8pm, although some people may arrive earlier. More information on those people can be found on the list and the IRC channel. If you are unsure if you will recognise us then make yourself and your intent to attend known by either posting on list or visiting us on IRC so we can look out for you rather than hiding in the corner. Optionally you could ask at the bar if they know where the geeky computer weirdos are and they'll point you in the right direction (seriously!). Another possibility is look for heaps of electronics on a table that may possibly look like movie props that would used for detonating explosives. Feel free to bring electronics/laptops/gadgets to the meet, you will by no means be alone. Ben Bewick aka Viperfang NB: This mail is automated, please refer to the usual sources for more information. ALUG Contact Details: Website : http://www.alug.org.uk/ IRC : #alug on irc.alug.org.uk List : http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo Twitter : http://twitter.com/anglianlug Identica: TBA Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2381613902 ----- Send discussion replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk (Reply-To set) Unsub, change settings via http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce

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