It's pretty important to note that OUTPUT=ISO with file:// will wipe everything on that device

[JeffVeit]

Relax-and-Recover (ReaR) Issue Template

Fill in the following items before submitting a new issue
(quick response is not guaranteed with free support):

• ReaR version ("/usr/sbin/rear -V"):

Relax-and-Recover 2.5 / Git

• OS version ("cat /etc/os-release" or "lsb_release -a" or "cat /etc/rear/os.conf"):

OS_VENDOR=Ubuntu
OS_VERSION=20.04

• ReaR configuration files ("cat /etc/rear/site.conf" and/or "cat /etc/rear/local.conf"):

OUTPUT=ISO
OUTPUT_URL=file:///media/garth/Elements/rear/mouse/

• Hardware (PC or PowerNV BareMetal or ARM) or virtual machine (KVM guest or PoverVM LPAR):

PC.

• System architecture (x86 compatible or PPC64/PPC64LE or what exact ARM device):

Intel 64.

• Firmware (BIOS or UEFI or Open Firmware) and bootloader (GRUB or ELILO or Petitboot):

UEFI

• Storage (local disk or SSD) and/or SAN (FC or iSCSI or FCoE) and/or multipath (DM or NVMe):

Local disk - USB interface. Portable backup device.

• Storage layout ("lsblk -ipo NAME,KNAME,PKNAME,TRAN,TYPE,FSTYPE,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT" or "lsblk" as makeshift):

I don't think this is relevant to the issue.

• Description of the issue (ideally so that others can reproduce it):

Plugged a Western Digital Elements portable hard drive into my system. Configured rear to output an ISO to it, into a subdirectory, specially for the purpose. Ran rear mkrescue. rear deleted all the directories and files on the device when it output, leaving only the rear subdirectory.

This is not ideal.

A very prominent note that this combination will delete everything on the disk would be a good idea.

• Workaround, if any:

Nope. Some years of backups are gone.

• Attachments, as applicable ("rear -D mkrescue/mkbackup/recover" debug log files):

To paste verbatim text like command output or file content,
include it between a leading and a closing line of three backticks like

```
verbatim content
```

[JeffVeit]

I'm wrong: this is either a rights problem across multiple computers, or a feature of WD Elements. Nothing to see here; nothing was deleted. I just couldn't see it. Nothing to do with rear at all.

Apologies for the incorrect report.

[jsmeix]

@JeffVeit
FYI:

When you intend to use a separated disk only for ReaR via the USB config variables
cf. the OUTPUT=USB section in usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf
https://github.com/rear/rear/blob/master/usr/share/rear/conf/default.conf#L776
then the ReaR documentation tells about using the rear format workflow
once as precondition setup step to prepare the whole disk for ReaR, cf.
http://relax-and-recover.org/documentation/getting-started

The rear format workflow will destroy all previous data on the disk.
But in this case there is a user dialog that tells about it and asks
for confirmation (unless you had specified the -y/--yes option), cf.
https://github.com/rear/rear/blob/master/usr/share/rear/format/USB/default/200_check_usb_layout.sh#L64
and

# usr/sbin/rear format -- --help
Use 'rear format [ -- OPTIONS ] DEVICE' like 'rear -v format -- --efi /dev/sdX'
Valid format workflow options are: -e/--efi -f/--force -y/--yes