Arch Linux

akjanik

Member

Registered: 2017-11-13

Posts: 23

Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

Recently I bought external SSD - "SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 500GB USB 3.1 " - with intentions to use part of if as backup.
I have formatted it to ext4 and gave write/execute permissions.

Every time I am trying to `rsync` something, I am getting weird error.
The most frustrating part is after failure system stops seeing the drive and I have to reboot to make it visible again - and then mounting takes _very_long_ time.
I am using it via USB-C interface on my motherboard - can it be source of some issues?

I tried couple of tools, here is the log from rsync-based backintime tool:
Bunhc of errors looks like:

[E] Error: rsync: [generator] recv_generator: mkdir "/run/media/adam/61c4d6c2-2744-4ac7-a9ea-983dc5b3ae06/backintime/adam/adam/1/new_snapshot/backup/home/adam/venvs" failed: Input/output error (5)
[E] Error: rsync: [generator] recv_generator: mkdir "/run/media/adam/61c4d6c2-2744-4ac7-a9ea-983dc5b3ae06/backintime/adam/adam/1/new_snapshot/backup/home/adam/yay" failed: Input/output error (5)
[E] Error: rsync: [generator] recv_generator: mkdir "/run/media/adam/61c4d6c2-2744-4ac7-a9ea-983dc5b3ae06/backintime/adam/adam/1/new_snapshot/backup/home/adam/code/go/pkg/mod/github.com/direnv" failed: Input/output error (5)

another kind of error that happens:

[E] Error: rsync: [receiver] mkstemp "/run/media/adam/61c4d6c2-2744-4ac7-a9ea-983dc5b3ae06/backintime/adam/adam/1/new_snapshot/backup/home/adam/bluez-git/.git/objects/86/.822e68a0a4dbbd40acc8e248f5e493ba5cc46d.OP4ePk" failed: Input/output error (5)
[E] Error: rsync: [receiver] mkstemp "/run/media/adam/61c4d6c2-2744-4ac7-a9ea-983dc5b3ae06/backintime/adam/adam/1/new_snapshot/backup/home/adam/code/go/pkg/mod/github.com/!morganamilo/go-srcinfo@v1.0.0/testdata/srcinfos/good/.salome-smesh.T01JLU" failed: Input/output error (5)
[E] Error: rsync: [receiver] mkstemp "/run/media/adam/61c4d6c2-2744-4ac7-a9ea-983dc5b3ae06/backintime/adam/adam/1/new_snapshot/backup/home/adam/code/go/pkg/mod/github.com/!jguer/go-alpm@v0.0.0-20191122171459-5cffc6e8fc69/.LICENSE.JsHoAJ" failed: Input/output error (5)

EDIT:
I use backintime as root to exclude any permission issues.
Is there any other good way to backup data? Maybe without rsync?
How can I make my SSD visible again after failure (not even visible in `fdisk -l`) without rebooting?

Last edited by akjanik (2021-05-02 06:56:16)

null

Member

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 398

Re: Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

You should check the disks health with smartctl: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/S.M.A.R.T.

And maybe try a different SATA connector. (sorry, missed the "external SSD" part)

Last edited by null (2021-04-29 08:15:03)

d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,687

Re: Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

I am using it via USB-C interface on my motherboard - can it be source of some issues?

It could be the USB-C. Have you tried plugging it in with regular USB? I have similar problem with USB-C with an external drive. Works fine with normal USB.

akjanik

Member

Registered: 2017-11-13

Posts: 23

Re: Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

@d_fajadro thats it! Very strange,  I measured speed on USB no type C and got close to marketing value:

hdparm -tT /dev/sde

/dev/sde:
 Timing cached reads:   23736 MB in  2.00 seconds = 11888.76 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads: 1310 MB in  3.00 seconds = 436.55 MB/sec

while type-c results are disappointing

hdparm -tT /dev/sde

/dev/sde:
 Timing cached reads:   22346 MB in  2.00 seconds = 11191.29 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  32 MB in 31.92 seconds =   1.00 MB/sec

Any idea if it hardware related problem (motherboard issue) or more like software thing, some bug in kernel or maybe I am missing some special driver?

d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,687

Re: Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

What motherboard do you have? I have an excellent Asrock motherboard but the USB-C is buggy and so I entirely just ignore it and plug everything in the normal USB. To answer your question I think it's hardware unless others in the forum knows more about USB-C.
The only other thing I can think of is some settings in the BIOS but you probably have done that.

EDIT: Could be the USB-C controller in the drive to.

Last edited by d_fajardo (2021-05-01 11:12:19)

akjanik

Member

Registered: 2017-11-13

Posts: 23

Re: Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

Asus x370 Prime Pro. Worked okish so far. It has only one usb-c port, so yeah, I may just ignore it. Don't have other hardware to test it unfortunately; anyway, thank you, marking as solved.

d_fajardo

Member

Registered: 2017-07-28

Posts: 1,687

Re: Unable to make backup on external SSD [SOLVED]

It seems to be an endemic problem with USB-C's and probably the hardware implementations are not fully ironed-out yet. It also doubles for Thunderbolt which adds to its complications. For my part, it's not that the USB-C doesn't work. It works drives but randomly disconnects and for making backups this is unacceptable so I just resort to the old trusted USB.