Restore Backup on new machine

[RoXxToR]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently testing out Pluton to see if it fits my backup needs. I'm using it with a WebDAV drive and Proton Drive.

To test things out, I backed up some sample files and wanted to see if I could restore them as if I were on a fresh machine or a new install. However, I can't seem to get the restore process to work.

The storages themselves are connected and working fine. Is it correct that I have to manually create a new backup plan first (without running it) just to get Pluton to recognize the existing restore point?

Even when using identical configs, I keep getting a "config file already exists" error.

I'm using this as a Docker Container on my Ugreen NAS.

Any advice on how to handle this? Thanks!

[towfiqi]

@RoXxToR I am not sure I understand what you are trying to achieve. Can you kindly elaborate?

[RoXxToR]

Thanks @towfiqi for the reply, let me clarify what I'm trying to achieve:

I want to make sure I can recover my data in a disaster recovery situation. For example, if my NAS breaks down or I completely lose my Docker container config and have to start fresh.

In this scenario, I have my encrypted snapshot backups sitting on my WebDAV / Proton Drive. Now, I spin up a completely brand-new Pluton container.

What is the correct workflow to "import" or link this existing backup storage into the fresh Pluton instance so that it recognizes the existing restore points and allows me to perform a restore?

From the documentation i am stuck at number 3 as i cannot find this in the settings or am not doing number 2 right.

Migrate to New System
Scenario: Moving data from old server to new server.

Solution:

1. On new system, install Pluton
2. Configure access to same storage destination
3. Restore snapshot to Custom Location (new system paths)
4. Set overwrite to Always
5. Adjust destination path to new system structure
6. Restore

Result: Data migrated to new system from backup.

When I tried to recreate the backup plan with the exact same credentials/paths on the fresh install to achieve this, I ran into the "config file already exists" error.

[towfiqi]

What is the correct workflow to "import" or link this existing backup storage into the fresh Pluton instance so that it recognizes the existing restore points and allows me to perform a restore?

@RoXxToR I am assuming these backups are made with Pluton and not directly with restic. In most cases, you would want to backup pluton's data itself. Create a plan and back up the whole data folder /var/lib/pluton. Then, when a disaster hits, you install a fresh copy of Pluton, make sure the encryption keys are the same during install, and finally, place the backed-up data in the /var/lib/pluton, overwriting the fresh one. Once you do that, when you log in to the fresh Pluton instance, you will see the exact same plans, storage, and snapshots, etc. you previously had and will be easily restore the data you want from your backup plan from the interface.

Having no backup of the Pluton instance does not mean your backups won't be accessible anymore. You can easily access your backups(restic repos) directly with restic and rclone anytime you want.

If you only want to restore data from one of the snapshots of your restic repo (created with Pluton), you don't actually need Pluton to access/restore that data. You can simply use restic directly to restore the data. In that case, you will have to install rclone and connect your storage(where the actual restic repo is backed up) to rclone. Then, when running the restic restore command, use the correct remote path where the repo is. For example: restic restore -r rclone:myBackBlaze/path/to/the/repo. You can learn more about it here.

[RoXxToR]

@towfiqi Thank you for the explanation!

While this doesn't directly answer how to import an existing storage into a completely fresh, unbacked-up Pluton instance, it gives me a clear picture of how Pluton handles disaster recovery.

Now I understand what Pluton can do (by backing up its own config folder /var/lib/pluton) and what it apparently cannot do (importing a bare repo directly via the GUI without that config backup). Knowing that I can always fall back to restic/rclone directly gives me the peace of mind I was looking for.

Maybe take a look at the documentation, since there you can migrate to a new system, without mentioning the backup of its own config folder. By your answer this seems outdatet.

Thanks for clarifying!

[towfiqi]

@RoXxToR: Importing an existing Restic repo in Pluton is not yet possible. The repo import feature will be added in the near future.

And you are correct that the documentation is missing in this matter and will be updated soon. Thanks.