Alternatives to Automatic Backups. Ways to do it yourself

Community Guides
, , ,
1

There have been a lot of questions on how to do a backup if you want to run it manually, not using the awesome automatic tools.

This is a bunch of ways to back-up your system and not use the new 2025.1 introduced automatic stuff.

Choices are good to have. Make sure you are making the right choice.

Now while I do like the new method and do suggest using encryption, the options are still available to not use encryption and to use a different method.

Here are some options. Some were in the HA Docs, some are still in the HA Docs, but all should still work. Others are less advertised.

If you want to add to the list, editing this is always an option for this Community guide. As long as it’s accurate and not negative, you have my permission to edit.

GoofyJim150-150

As the original Author I want to please ask that any controversy or arguments about what is right or wrong be avoided. There are other threads covering that. I will likely ask that such post be moved or removed should they be posted here in this Community Guide.
Let’s stick to options here and suggesting something works better than something else, and getting problems solved, etc.

The Home Assistant Cookbook - Index.

10 Likes
2

So out of all the options listed it seems (not counting the CLI) this is the only one available for a Container install correct?

And my understanding is that this backup can’t be used to directly restore a Container install. Is that also correct? The restore instructions don’t really specify and seem to imply that the instructions are for installs that have add-ons.

I’ve never used this backup method because of this understanding (or misunderstanding). I always have just manually copied my config folder contents to my server.

it seems a shame that HA doesn’t have a decent backup strategy for the users of a non-supervised (no add-ons) install.

and before anyone throws it out…yes I know that HA Container is considered an advanced install method and as such my system is my own responsibility. And I’ve accepted that responsibility and have my own backup strategy.

But unless I’m wrong about the above (and as always I’m willing to be) I fail to see the point of providing a backup solution that you can’t use to restore from.

3

Thank you, good idea to start this thread! It’s always better to find a workaround and move on, than to continue arguing a lost cause.

For me, the big problem is enforced encryption. I don’t want HA to make automatic backups, and I don’t want to use a third-party cloud. I don’t even need to open backups looking for archival copies of files. But of course those are features some others do want.

My concern is that HA seems to be moving to a one-size-fits-all “black box” solution, all hidden from the user. Presumably anything which depends on the built-in HA backup commands or APIs will eventually be migrated to this new model. That would make many of the solutions on the list above unworkable.

Also, those built-in HA backup processes create the .tar files on the local HA system drive, even if you run an add-on which then copies them elsewhere. Not everyone has unlimited space on their HA system drive, and some of us still use SD cards to run HA. Backups do no good if they’re stored on the drive which we’re trying to restore anyway. So why create them there? It’s a waste of space and writes.

I’m starting to think we need a totally independent solution. I’ve started looking inside the backup .tar files. Some of it is obvious. Just take a copy of the /config directory and you’ve got all your settings. Some of it is less so. What do all those other .tar files in there do?

The ideal would be to have a separate process, outside HA, which could grab everything needed for a restore, then package and store it somewhere safe. I envision this as something I could run on a server or my laptop, manually or on a schedule, which would only read from the HA storage, not create .tar files there.

Once this process has been identified, the user could decide where and how often these backups are saved. We could name them according to our own naming conventions, and maintain however many copies we feel are needed. We could encrypt them, or not.

From what’s been said in that other thread, and especially what hasn’t been said, I’m pretty sure this is going to be my only option going forward.

Anyone else?

4

Pretty easy to test that one.

5

BTW, if someone is floating here to decode their HA encrypted backup one off, there is this:
Get files from password protected snapshot? - #16 by Burningstone.
My bets are that shortly someone will have a CI or add-on for this or Nabu Casa will have something better for this.
For right now, if you need it, that’s a way to pull the file apart.

6

I tested this yesterday.

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/3-2-1-backup/821341/188