Skip to content

Set up a drive: plain exFAT, no encryption

What you'll do: erase a drive and format it as exFAT, without a password.
What you need: Deucalion installed; an external drive whose contents you don't need.
How long it takes: 2 minutes.

Good for: a backup you want to open on any computer without a password or extra software. Keep in mind: anyone who has the drive can read everything on it, including saved Wi-Fi passwords and keys. Keep the drive somewhere safe.

This erases the whole drive

Everything on it is deleted. Copy anything you want to keep somewhere else first.

  1. Plug in the drive. In Deucalion, go to Drives and click Set Up… next to the drive.

  2. Choose No encryption, exFAT and click Next.

    The Storage page with "No encryption, exFAT" selected.

  3. Type a Name of the backup drive (here Spare) and click Next. There is no password.

    The Details page with only the name "Spare".

  4. Type the drive's name shown on the Confirm page and click Erase and Set Up.

    The Confirm page with the drive name typed.

  5. When it is ready, click Done.

    The finished setup: "Spare" is ready.

Run deucalion setup-drive and answer: the drive; 3 on an empty drive (No encryption: erase and format the whole drive as exFAT; on a drive that has files it is 4); a name; the drive's short name to confirm.

$ deucalion setup-drive
Which drive?
  1) /dev/sda  Spare Drive  32.0 GB
  Choose [1-1] (default 1):

/dev/sda  Spare Drive  32.0 GB
  (empty)

How should the backup be stored?
  1) Encrypt the whole drive
  2) Encrypted part for the backup + a normal part for other files
  3) No encryption: erase and format the whole drive as exFAT
  Choose [1-3] (default 1): 3
  A name for this backup drive [Deucalion]: Spare

Summary
  Drive:  /dev/sda  Spare Drive  32.0 GB
  Layout: No encryption: erase and format the whole drive as exFAT
  EVERYTHING on /dev/sda will be erased.
  To confirm, type the drive name (sda): sda
  Erasing /dev/sda and creating a new partition table
  Backup drive 'Spare' is ready: /media/alex/Spare/Deucalion-Backup

Done. Back up with: deucalion backup  (drive 'Spare')

What is on the drive now

One exFAT part with the backup folder, a copy of Deucalion and the READ-ME file:

$ cat "/media/alex/Spare/READ-ME-FIRST.txt"
DEUCALION BACKUP DRIVE
======================

This drive holds a backup made with Deucalion 0.2.0
(https://github.com/Dimitrios-Kafetzis/Deucalion).

Your backup is the folder Deucalion-Backup. Your files are in Deucalion-Backup/home as
normal files and folders: you can open and copy them directly.

Opening the backup
------------------
Linux (Ubuntu):
  Just open the drive in the Files app.

macOS:
  Just open the drive in Finder (exFAT and NTFS drives are readable on macOS).

Windows:
  Just open the drive in File Explorer.

Restoring files or rebuilding a machine (Ubuntu)
------------------------------------------------
  1. Plug in the drive.
  2. Open a terminal in the Deucalion-Tool folder on this drive and run:
       bin/deucalion register <the backup folder>   (only the first time on a new machine)
       bin/deucalion rebuild                        rebuild a whole machine, step by step
       bin/deucalion restore ~/Documents            restore single folders or files

Notes
-----
- Never format this drive or rename the Deucalion-Backup folder.
- Deucalion-Backup/_removed holds older versions and deleted files; empty it with
  'deucalion removed empty' when you need space.

The drive is formatted with 8 KB clusters, so millions of small files don't waste space.

What you have now: a backup drive readable everywhere, registered as your default backup drive.

Next steps: Make a full backup. Before unplugging, Unmount it on the Drives page or run deucalion close.