USB backup drive sync errors - Ubuntu 20.04, recent re-install/UEFI
by Myoglobin from LinuxQuestions.org on (#5FB26)
Long-time Ubuntu user finally making an account here to ask about this:
Family member was dual-booting Ubuntu 18.04 (ssd with MBR) + Win 10 (slow hdd with UEFI) for years on a ~5-year old desktop (Asus M32CD) when suddenly two weeks ago after upgrading the GPU the BIOS stopped displaying, making choosing a different OS at startup impossible without taking the video card out.
After hours of troubleshooting we installed Ubuntu 20.04 onto a second ssd this time with GPT/EFI partitioning rather than MBR to try to force GRUB to see both Ubuntu and Windows; this didn't work so we just focused instead on getting the most commonly-used programs working on Ubuntu and not booting into Windows anymore. I'm planning to make a separate post to ask about restoring dual-boot.
For a week this worked well, but today when trying to back up personal data to the external USB backup drive (MyPassport 1Tb HDD, very old) new "Input/Output error [readdir]" errors started to show up for random folders on the backup drive, and those folders were found to be empty (previously full). Thankfully we were able to delete those folders and manually copy them over again from the main drive without errors, but I'm not sure what this means. Which is more likely:
- Backup drive is reaching end of lifespan, replace with external ssd (gnome-disks found no errors though)
- Something about Ubuntu 20.04 changed how USB devices are mounted and I need to change permissions (current mount options are nosuid,nodev,nofail,noauto,x-gvfs-show)
- Perhaps I broke something while upgrading the GPU (an old 950 gtx I stopped using in another rig) and now either the mobo or the SATA/USB cables are damaged (would expect a lot more frequent errors/inability to mount drives if that was the case)
Other weird things:
- MyPassport keeps changing ownership randomly between the main user and root
- Nautilus hangs and crashes when trying to open the Trash to clear it (total disk usage is only 1/4 though)
Hopefully this wasn't TMI/somewhat useful; what are the next steps I should take to figure this out?
Family member was dual-booting Ubuntu 18.04 (ssd with MBR) + Win 10 (slow hdd with UEFI) for years on a ~5-year old desktop (Asus M32CD) when suddenly two weeks ago after upgrading the GPU the BIOS stopped displaying, making choosing a different OS at startup impossible without taking the video card out.
After hours of troubleshooting we installed Ubuntu 20.04 onto a second ssd this time with GPT/EFI partitioning rather than MBR to try to force GRUB to see both Ubuntu and Windows; this didn't work so we just focused instead on getting the most commonly-used programs working on Ubuntu and not booting into Windows anymore. I'm planning to make a separate post to ask about restoring dual-boot.
For a week this worked well, but today when trying to back up personal data to the external USB backup drive (MyPassport 1Tb HDD, very old) new "Input/Output error [readdir]" errors started to show up for random folders on the backup drive, and those folders were found to be empty (previously full). Thankfully we were able to delete those folders and manually copy them over again from the main drive without errors, but I'm not sure what this means. Which is more likely:
- Backup drive is reaching end of lifespan, replace with external ssd (gnome-disks found no errors though)
- Something about Ubuntu 20.04 changed how USB devices are mounted and I need to change permissions (current mount options are nosuid,nodev,nofail,noauto,x-gvfs-show)
- Perhaps I broke something while upgrading the GPU (an old 950 gtx I stopped using in another rig) and now either the mobo or the SATA/USB cables are damaged (would expect a lot more frequent errors/inability to mount drives if that was the case)
Other weird things:
- MyPassport keeps changing ownership randomly between the main user and root
- Nautilus hangs and crashes when trying to open the Trash to clear it (total disk usage is only 1/4 though)
Hopefully this wasn't TMI/somewhat useful; what are the next steps I should take to figure this out?