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When using luksOpen, does one specify the UUID and the PARTUUID. Which goes first?

On trying to post the above sentence, AskUbuntu robocop said it does not meet "our quality standards". I cannot be any more clear that the question as asked. Sorry to all Admins. It's taken me 8 weeks of daily researching encryption to get to a point where I can form my question. But for the sake of complying with AskUbuntu. Here goes nothing.

I have my /home on an external sata.

I installed Ubuntu 16.04 to a ssd using Ubuntu's installation time encryption. I was shown a 32 character passphrase and told to write it down. I did so. When I called Ubuntu's "Backups" and told it to restore it failed as the external drive has become encrypted. Even though I did not have the external sata /home powered up during the install. At one point in time, I was able to unlock (is that technically: unwrap?) the /home, but now I can't. Again, after 6 to 8 weeks of researching this, I believe I need the above short question answered.

I don't usually perform a "Restore", so I'm uncertain if it "didn't work as usual". The Backups have always written to the ext dev. And Deja-Dup runs a test on the backup set. I've never seen an error reported. I have a /home on an external drive. It is written by deja-dup. After I installed the ssd, and tried to "Restore", deja-dup said it could not find the place to restore from. I did nothing that I am aware of to encrypt the external drive. I may have had it turned on but don't 100% recall

cat /etc/crypttab 

cryptswap1 UUID=71335368-221f-4afd-9fde-f337dee8ee15 /dev/urandom swap,offset=1024,cipher=aes-xts-plain64

but the external device is (from lsblk): 

/dev/sdb1: UUID="9deada4e-82ad-45fa-a1c6-a8e68d8b41f5" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="e1d12727-f8c8-47bf-be15-e7246d3dd0c4"

Again, I apologize to the Admins of AskUbuntu, and thank you to all the Linux Community for any help.

George Udosen
  • 36,677
  • What does When I called Ubuntu's "Backups" and told it to restore it failed as the external drive has become encrypted mean...You encrypted then made backup, then tried to restore... Please write out the process till this current point so we can follow or I can follow. Again you could try both and which ever works is the answer but I believe its the UUID – George Udosen Aug 23 '17 at 19:46
  • No, I have always made weekly backups, using Ubuntu's "Backups". There was an existing backup of /home on an external sata hdd. This "backup" was kept on an external device and not powered on while the new ssd had Ubuntu 16.04.2 installed. After that, I tried to run Ubuntu's "Backups" and cause the backup to be "Restored" to the ssd from the external sata drive. "Backups" could not find a "location" (which in Ubuntu's "Backups" can be a folder or directory, Amazon's AWS, and other "locations") to restore from. When I looked in the external sata, I was surprised to see the encryption. –  Aug 23 '17 at 22:33
  • If i get you right you encrypted then ran backup, followed by restore but it didn't work as usual? – George Udosen Aug 23 '17 at 22:38
  • I don't usually perform a "Restore", so I'm uncertain if it "didn't work as usual". The Backups have always written to the ext dev. And Deja-Dup runs a test on the backup set. I've never seen an error reported. I have a /home on an external drive. It is written by deja-dup. After I installed the ssd, and tried to "Restore", deja-dup said it could not find the place to restore from. I did nothing that I am aware of to encrypt the external drive. I may have had it turned on but don't 100% recall. (I'm a 70-ish year old man). Thnx. –  Aug 23 '17 at 22:41
  • This might explain your situation: https://superuser.com/questions/330819/can-i-make-a-system-backup-encrypt-the-disk-and-restore-everything-with-ubuntu – George Udosen Aug 23 '17 at 22:53
  • Per this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/205240/how-to-open-encrypted-partition-knowing-the-passphrase, I'm trying: cryptsetup luksOpen , but I can't figure out what are to be. Reading the post at SuperUser, I can say I did not use TrueCrypt. At one time, I was at the point to do vgdisplay and lvdisplay and change those, but I wasn't able to get past mere mounting (/media/mark/UUID of external device (and not PARTUUID) of the partition where the backup is. (whew! that's a mouthful). –  Aug 23 '17 at 23:03
  • Please run cat /etc/crypttab and paste the output – George Udosen Aug 23 '17 at 23:03
  • mark@Lexington:~$ cat /etc/crypttab cryptswap1 UUID=71335368-221f-4afd-9fde-f337dee8ee15 /dev/urandom swap,offset=1024,cipher=aes-xts-plain64 but the external device is (from lsblk): /dev/sdb1: UUID="9deada4e-82ad-45fa-a1c6-a8e68d8b41f5" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="e1d12727-f8c8-47bf-be15-e7246d3dd0c4" –  Aug 23 '17 at 23:40
  • Ok - device file is UUID=71335368-221f-4afd-9fde-f337dee8ee15, device mapper name is : cryptswap1 – George Udosen Aug 24 '17 at 00:01
  • Now run lsblk -f to what owns UUID=71335368-221f-4afd-9fde-f337dee8ee15 – George Udosen Aug 24 '17 at 00:03
  • /dev/sdc1 is the external drive I'm trying to access:
    mark@Lexington:~$ sudo lsblk -f [sudo] password for mark: NAME FSTYPE LABEL UUID MOUNTPOINT sdb
    sdc
    └─sdc1 ext4 9deada4e-82ad-45fa-a1c6-a8e68d8b41f5 sda
    ├─sda2
    ├─sda5 swap 71335368-221f-4afd-9fde-f337dee8ee15 │ └─cryptswap1 -- FWIW I'm trying to unlock sdc1     –  Aug 24 '17 at 16:37
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. –  Aug 24 '17 at 16:50

0 Answers0