[clug] Can't mount an encrupted backup file system

jhock jhock at iinet.net.au
Fri Jun 1 18:32:49 MDT 2012


Hi All,

I have just bought a new eeePC. I thought that I would load up Ubuntu
10.4 and then get all my /home, /var, /opt, etc. file system content
from my old eeePC using the 1TB external hard disk drive that I use for
my backups.  The trouble is that my new eeePC doesn't mount my encrypted
backup disk.  Here's what I did:

On old eeePC:
- Backed up /opt, /var, /home, /etc
- sudo dpkg --get-selections > packagesOnUSBDrive
- sudo /etc/apt/sources.list > sourcesOnUSBDrive

On the new eeePC:
- Load Ubuntu 10.4 from USB iso file
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo cp sourcesOnUSBDrive /etc/apt/sources.list
- sudo dpkg --set-selections < packagesUSBDrive
- sudo apt-get -u dselect-upgrade
- sudo apt-get update

Everything worked just nicely up to this point. I then plugged in the 1
TB backup disk drive. As usual the "Enter a password to unlock the
volume" window popped up stating that 'The device "1.0 TB Hard Disk"
contains encrypted data on partition 1.' I then select the "Remember
password until you log out" check box, entered the password into the
text box and selected the "connect" button.

I get the following in an error window:

"Unable to mount 1.0 TB Encrypted
Error unlocking device: cryptsetup exited with the exit code 255: No key
available with this passphrase"

I hope that all I need to do is copy a file from the old PC onto the new
eeePC and then try to mount the backup hard disk again but I don't know
what file to copy, where it is located or if there is some special way
of copying it.

Also are the /top, /home, /etc/ and /var directories the ones I should
copy across?

Can someone please help me?

Thanks.

Jhock



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