If you mount a disk on /mnt/backup , then rsync your ~ to /mnt/backup/bmike/ ,
that means that /mnt/backup/bmike/ will contain an exact copy of your ~.  This
means that finding 1 file under /mnt/backup/bmike/ and copying it to
/home/bmike/ should be a very simple and easy thing.
Yeah,

Yeah, this is what I thought but when I tried to find the usbdrive it isn't there.
bmike1@PresarioLapTop1:~$ sudo mount /dev/sdc /mnt/sdc
mount: no medium found on /dev/sdc
bmike1@PresarioLapTop1:~$ ls /mnt/backup
ls: reading directory /mnt/backup: Input/output error

How does one list from a device with a label?