Hi on my old PC (the hard disc crashed) I have Duplicati backup.
Now Have a new PC and my question is, can I merge this new PC backup with the old backup?
I mind can I continue to back up the new PC on the old backup files?
Thanks
I’m going to presume you have already restored any files that needed to be restored into the new PC and that your new PC is fully up and running and you now want to start getting backups of it.
It sounds like you want to keep your previous backup sets (file history) and start adding new data to that previous backup? Sadly, I don’t think it will let you do that but maybe someone else knows for sure?
As an alternative, depending on where you save your backups it could be as simple as specifying a new folder and backup set for the new pc to use and leaving the previous backup folder(s) where they are in the event you need to go back and manually restore something from those old backups. This of course presumes you don’t have to pay for storage and/or are not constrained by storage limits.
FYI: So long as you keep any old backup sets (the *.dblock, *.dlist, *.dindex files and know the encryption key) you can always manually restore files from them should the need arise in the UI via “Restore / Direct restore from backup files…”, you can do it via the CLI as well but it’s a bit more involved. It’s slow to do as it recreates the DB on the fly but it works if you just want to restore data. The backup set files can be moved from one storage location to another just by copy/pasting/save/uploading them. This will not recreate the backup job in Duplicati, it only gives you access to restore your data but that’s usually all that matters.
If you don’t care about keeping the previous history then it’s just a matter of removing/deleting the old backup set files from the destination and then telling the new backup job to use that destination.
Hopefully, someone else knows for certain if you can “re-use” a previous backup set in the way you want to but I’m not optimistic that you can.
You can do this, but how smoothly it goes depends on what’s left of old hard drive or if you kept an Export.
Without either the old databases (often in C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\Duplicati) or Export to file, backup configuration is lost, and you have to enter it again from memory and from looking at Restore files.
Instead of doing a Direct restore from backup files which makes a one-time-use database, continuing with existing backup is more easily done by roughing out a backup job, or doing an import if you have an export.
Database screen Repair button will (maybe slowly, and keep an eye on progress bar if it gets slow) make local database from destination files. You can then do a regular Restore. Use a different location if you like manual moving of files into suitable locations in your new install. This can get trickier with apps or OS files.
Seeing what you backed up can help you fine-tune the Source settings, if you had to guess at them initially.
If you still have the old databases, this gets a lot easier. You can just move them and use them on new PC.
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