long story short, I had a dual boot Windows/Ubuntu 24.04. I removed my Windows but had accidentally removed a partition. Result, I could not longer boot in my Ubuntu.

I tried repairing the grub but was getting too complicated.

I re-installed my Ubuntu 24.04 using the same settings I had.

Before this, I had a weekly rsync backups since March done on my /home/.. folder and they were stored in another partition that is intact. I forgot how it was setup.

However, I am having hard time how to restore it (want to do a dry-run first).

Here is my backup folder:

• duplicity-full.*.manifest.gpg
• duplicity-full..vol.difftar.gpg
• duplicity-full-signatures.*.sigtar.gpg
• duplicity-inc..to..manifest.gpg
• duplicity-inc..to..vol*.difftar.gpg
• duplicity-new-signatures..to..sigtar.gpg

I do not want to restore everything.

I want to first see the files that are in the backups and decide which ones I want to restore.

How do I do this and which files do I give it?

It is not rsync. It is deja-dup

The files you have listed indicate duplicity, which is used by deja-dup. Which in turn is the default "Backup" app used by Ubuntu 24.04.

A note for those reading this answer for Ubuntu 26.04 or later:

Recent version of deja-dup does not use duplicity as the back end. See this answer for details.

Restore from the Backup App

1. Open the Backup app from your newly installed Ubuntu 24.04. You will see an option to set up backup and another option to restore from existing backup.
2. Click on the "Restore from Previous Backup" option.
3. Change "Location" to "Local Folders" as you backed up in a different partition.
4. Point to the folder where the backup files are. The app will show you folders and files to restore.
5. Follow the prompts.

Hope this helps