Restore backups on another computer?

How-To
#1

I’m using version 2.0.3.3 Beta for some days now and backup my files to OneDrive with encryption. I created some backup jobs and all seems to work fine. Also restoring of files from OneDrive to my computer works.

But what happens when my windows installation crashes and I have to reinstall or I want to restore files on another computer? What do I have to do?

I tried to find information in the documentation but the links for “Restoring files from a backup” and “Restoring files if your Duplicati installation is lost” are broken.

I’m able to export the backup jobs so I can import them into a new installation of Duplicati. But how does Duplicati know which files are in the backup? Do I have to export the databases and the configuration also?

#2

Hello @DenalB and welcome to the forum!

Possibly things moved in the documentation? There was an update recently. These links work at the moment:

https://duplicati.readthedocs.io/en/latest/03-using-the-graphical-user-interface/#restoring-files-from-a-backup

https://duplicati.readthedocs.io/en/latest/03-using-the-graphical-user-interface/#restoring-files-if-your-duplicati-installation-is-lost

Although the exported backup jobs will help you if you need to get the backup configuration set up again, the backed up files themselves are completely described by data at the destination, which is also what allows the local database to be rebuilt (sometimes too slowly) from destination data, should the local disk get destroyed. Dated dlist files list files, and refer into the dblock files for data. How the backup process works describes this.

Some people (especially those with large backups) run a second backup job to backup the database for the primary job (database path visible in the job’s Database tab), but others just put up with waiting for a rebuild.

The Restore on the main menu offers a “Direct restore from backup files” which is probably faster because it doesn’t (AFAIK) recreate the entire database (which you need to do sometime, but maybe in less of a hurry).

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#3

How neat would it be to eventually get this process automated (perhaps optionally) and in some way slipstreamed into the main backup set, in such a way that a database rebuild command could check first and see whether it exists, and if so, speed up the database rebuild by a factor of 100? :stuck_out_tongue:

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#4

Thanks for the working links. :slight_smile:

I tested a little bit and backed up my Duplicati databases in my profile. After that I restored them on a newly installed machine to my new profile. All jobs were available when starting Duplicati. So I decided to regularly backup my databases for having them present when installing a new OS or my system is crashing down.

But in fact it would be nice if there were an option to backup all the databases and restore them if needed. :wink:

#5

ts678 said something interesting:

Blockquote Some people (especially those with large backups) run a second backup job to backup the database for the primary job (database path visible in the job’s Database tab), but others just put up with waiting for a rebuild.> Blockquote

If you backup the database in a separate job, do you do it without a passphrase to avoid having to rebuild or is rebuilding a small database nothing to worry about?

Is it a best practice to backup the DB to a different cloud provider? Whats in a .sqlite file?

Thanks,
Bob

#6

How are those parts connected? If you do a backup of a database, you later do a restore of that database. Using a passphrase protects the database better, if you don’t totally trust the system the DB backup is on.

I don’t see much gain. It’s good practice to have multiple backups of source to different places, but getting the database back from a secondary provider after the primary provider lost the primary backup won’t help.

It’s not your data, but data about your data, such as what the source paths are, and where to get their data. The main thing that can’t be rebuilt (e.g. by Recreate button) from backup is some history, e.g. the job logs.

#7

I wanted the entire install to be exactly the way it was, not just the databases. If someone needs those instructions, I put them here: Restoring Duplicati after a Windows system reinstallation - How-To - Duplicati.