Backing Up to an External Drive
Hi
I have used immich for a while now but not done a backup of immich and all my contents. I can see that Borg is advised for this but is there other programs or Docker containers that can be used to do this and is there specific paths that need to be backed up to make sure I have access to them? Also does it backup all the images and videos I have in immich or just the metadata?
I have my server on my Network but want to use a Docker container like Restic to backup my immich so that I have another backup of all my photos and videos. The external drive tho will me connected to my Mac Studio and Ill look to update everyday
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Successfully submitted, a tag has been added to inform contributors. :white_check_mark:I have never backed up TO a mac, so I can only give a couple of hints here.
Your server needs to access the drive on the mac somehow. One way would be to use SSH (Called "Remote Login" on mac). Once login is working you have to point your backup software to the drive/directory that serves as the backup repository.
As long as you backup all the paths mentioned in the documentation you will have all the data Immich required to be restored, i.e. original files and the database dump. Thumbnails and transcodes are not included in the minimum backup and need to be regenerated. You can also choose to back them up, but this will increase your backup size.
So it looks like the drive is there in locations but not 100% sure of that
Regarding the paths that lets say Restic wud need is that the paths for these
For the paths add the database backup dir as well.
Mount looks fine to me, as long as it appears in that locations bar it's mounted on your filesystem
I asked ChatGPT but dont want to screw this up as its all my photos and videos lol
Ah yes lol do not rely on chatgpt for that
Yeah I know lol gives an understanding but will never trust the code it pumps out
It can help to get things started but you 100% need to confirm the things it says are correct
So the process wud go something like this
Install Restic & Create Backup folder on ExHDD
Tell Restic where to grab Backup Files/Folders - with correct paths
Run Backup Immich Dump
Sounds about right
Thanks for the help Ill give it a try
Gemini architected my entire stack by installing and configuring the Ubuntu Pro LTS operating system, deploying Dockerized services for Immich and Pi-hole, implementing a multi-layered security framework with a firewall, VPN, and reverse proxy, and integrating automated backups, power management, and system health monitoring to ensure data integrity and high availability.
Would it be a better idea to maybe install Kopia docker to my server and then use Kopia to backup my whole OMV docker data which would include Immich to the external HDD
Who is Gemini?
Google’s LLM - similar to ChatGPT.
I don’t want to follow something like that as I’m dealing with photos and videos
I like the look of Kopia but trying to workout the process of having everything to do with Immich put on an external drive connected to a different device/computer I’m having problems with understanding
In the end the tool makes no difference. Kopia is just another backup tool. They all do the same in the end, so use what feels the best for you. Backup as much as you think is worth backing up! It's not wrong to have more data in the backup, it just becomes bigger / more expensive (in case of cloud backups).
Having a non local but still self managed backup target definitely adds some complexity here
If you follow my initial suggestion of sharing that drive via SSH you should setup the Kopia side using the SFTP guide
https://kopia.io/docs/repositories/#sftp
Repositories
Fast and Secure Open-Source Backup Software for Windows, Mac, and Linux
Thanks for that once finished with the school run I’ll give it a try.
Just to confirm I can install the Kopia docker on the server but then point Kopia to the external HDD via SFTP
Most backup tools, including Borg, Restic and Kopia, support SFTP, yes.
Also to clarify: The tools do not care wether that drive is internal or external. To them it's just a random path on the filesystem (wherever that drive is mounted by MacOS)
Cool mate thanks. Think I’m over thinking it as don’t want to screw up my photos etc