Written 28 Aug 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card.

Restore one file from the USB backup

A backup you never copied back is a hope. Pull one file off the USB onto the computer so you know you can get it. You don't need a NAS for this.

Check that the backup actually copied asks whether files landed. This note is the next job: copy one of those files back onto the computer. Opening a photo on the USB is a look. A restore is a file you can hold again after the computer forgets it. Same computer. Same SSH from the couch. No backup software.

Skip until one copy looked good

If you never copied the house folder, stop. That is a backup of the house folder. If you never looked on the USB, do that first: check that the backup actually copied. If the computer cannot see the USB disk, see it first: see if the USB backup disk showed up. This note assumes that rsync already finished once and the look found real files.

What restore is

Restore means copy one file from the second copy back onto the computer. Do it into a safe folder, not on top of the live house share. The first test should not overwrite /srv/share. If that copy matches, you know the USB is a backup, not a folder you never opened. You are not buying a NAS. You are not restoring the whole share tonight.

Keep the USB mounted for this job

If you already unmounted after the look, plug the disk back in and mount the same way a backup of the house folder taught:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/backup && sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/backup

Swap /dev/sdb1 for the partition first-backup used if yours differed. Leave it mounted until you finish. If your second copy was another computer over SSH, skip the USB mount and pull one file from that other box instead.

Pick one file you recognize

List what the backup holds:

ls /mnt/backup/share

Pick one photo or document you know by name. Swap some-photo.jpg below for that real name. If the share has folders, list one of those first, then pick a file inside it.

Copy it into a safe folder

Make a landing spot in your home, then copy that one file:

mkdir -p ~/restore-test

cp /mnt/backup/share/some-photo.jpg ~/restore-test/

If the file lives in a folder on the USB, keep that path after share/. The copy lands in ~/restore-test, not in the live house share. That is on purpose. A first restore should prove you can get the file, not risk the original.

If the second copy is another computer, pull one file over SSH from this computer:

scp otheruser@other-address:share/some-photo.jpg ~/restore-test/

Swap otheruser and other-address for the login and address from first-backup. Same one-file idea.

Confirm it is the same file

See that it landed:

ls -l ~/restore-test/

You should see the name you picked, with a size that is not zero. Optional check that the two copies match, byte for byte:

cmp /mnt/backup/share/some-photo.jpg ~/restore-test/some-photo.jpg && echo same || echo different

Quiet same is the win. Open the file if you want (copy it to the house share later, or plug the USB into your laptop). Don't trust a green prompt alone. One real file you recognize beats a folder listing.

Then unmount, then tidy

When the restore is done:

sudo umount /mnt/backup

Unmount before you yank the cable. Leave the disk unplugged most of the time, same advice as a backup of the house folder. After you saw the file, you can throw the test folder away:

rm -r ~/restore-test

Skip that delete if you still want the file on the computer. Don't delete the copy on the USB.

If the copy is empty or different

Re-run the rsync from a backup of the house folder, then look again: check that the backup actually copied. Check the USB is writable and not full:

df -h /mnt/backup

Disk room on the computer itself is see if the computer still has room. Don't buy a NAS for a failed first restore. Don't restore the whole share over /srv/share until one file works.

What next

After one file comes back, put the whole folder back when you need it: put the house folder back from the backup. Then back up the house folder every week without remembering. Wrong clock: set the computer clock to your house. Skip RAID. Skip restic and Borg. Skip cloud until the USB copy exists and one file comes back.

Skip

• Skip if you never ran a backup of the house folder, or never did the look in check that the backup actually copied.
• Skip a NAS for this restore.
• Skip RAID.
• Skip restic and Borg tonight.
• Skip restoring the whole share over the live folder as the first test. When you need the full folder back, use put the house folder back from the backup.
• Skip leaving the USB plugged in forever.
• Skip the 3-2-1 lecture tonight.