Spent two full days trying to find the "right" backup solution.

Seems running an rsync script or two will do the job.

This is the script I have:

#!/bin/bash

#rsync -avh --progress /mnt/user/Photos/profile /mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/

#rsync -avh --progress /mnt/user/Photos/library /mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/

#rsync -avh --progress /mnt/user/Photos/upload /mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/

rsync -avh --progress /mnt/user/Photos/backups /mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/

--But as a test on just one line, the last I get several errors: IE. failed: Operation not permitted.

--But I do get this output in the correct directory. immich-db-backup-20251202T160000-v2.3.1-pg16.8.sql

What am I doing wrong? --The /mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/ is a mounted flash drive.

Script location: /tmp/user.scripts/tmpScripts/Backup Immich Profile/script

Note that closing this window will abort the execution of this script sending incremental file list

rsync: [generator] chown "/mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/backups" failed: Operation not permitted (1) backups/backups/.immich 13 100% 0.00kB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=1/3) backups/immich-db-backup-20251202T160000-v2.3.1-pg16.8.sql.gz 32.77K 0% 31.25MB/s 0:00:02 rsync: [receiver] chown "/mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/backups/.immich.gVITnG" failed: Operation not permitted (1) 80.90M 100% 1015.14MB/s 0:00:00 (xfr#2, to-chk=0/3) rsync: [receiver] chown "/mnt/disks/Recovery/Immich/backups/.immich-db-backup-20251202T160000-v2.3.1-pg16.8.sql.gz.pFxnF9" failed: Operation not permitted (1) sent 80.92M bytes received 58 bytes 161.84M bytes/sec total size is 80.90M speedup is 1.00 rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous errors) (code 23) at main.c(1338) [sender=3.4.1]

Edited December 3, 2025Dec 3 by RaidPC
Clarification

How is your mounted flash-drive formatted? If it is formatted in exFat or FAT then (i think) 'chown' won't work.

I too use immich and i make a backup of all my immich-containers: postresql, redis, immich-appdata and immich-userdata. It is best to stop the containers when making a backup otherwise the immich database can become corrupted. I use this script to backup my immich instance:

#!/bin/bash
# ==========================================================
# Immich Backup Script voor Unraid met logging + rotatie
# ==========================================================

# Configuratie
MAC_ADDRESS="macadressofbackuppc"
INTERFACE="eth0"
REMOTE_IP="ipadressofbackuppc"
MAX_WAIT=15
LOGDIR="/var/log"
LOGFILE="$LOGDIR/immich_backup.log"
CONTAINERS=("immich" "PostgreSQL_Immich" "redis")

# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Logrotatie: houd max. 2 logs (immich_backup.log en .1)
# ----------------------------------------------------------
mkdir -p "$LOGDIR"
if [ -f "$LOGFILE" ]; then
    if [ -f "$LOGFILE.1" ]; then
        rm -f "$LOGFILE.1"
    fi
    mv "$LOGFILE" "$LOGFILE.1"
fi

# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Logging functie
# ----------------------------------------------------------
log() {
    echo "[$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $*" | tee -a "$LOGFILE"
}

log "==================== START BACKUP ===================="

log "Wakker maken van remote server ($MAC_ADDRESS)..."
etherwake -i "$INTERFACE" -b "$MAC_ADDRESS" | tee -a "$LOGFILE"

log "Wachten tot de server online komt..."
WAITED=0
while ! ping -c 1 -W 1 "$REMOTE_IP" > /dev/null 2>&1; do
    sleep 1
    WAITED=$((WAITED + 1))
    if [ "$WAITED" -ge "$MAX_WAIT" ]; then
        log "FOUT: Server is niet online gekomen binnen $MAX_WAIT seconden."
        exit 1
    fi
done
log "Server is online!"

# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Containers stoppen
# ----------------------------------------------------------
log "Containers stoppen..."
for NAME in "${CONTAINERS[@]}"; do
    log "Stop container: $NAME"
    docker stop "$NAME" >> "$LOGFILE" 2>&1
    sleep 5
done

# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Back-ups uitvoeren
# ----------------------------------------------------------
log "Start Immich backup..."
rsync -avh --delete /mnt/user/appdata/immich/ root@$REMOTE_IP:/mnt/user/backup/appdata/immich/ | tee -a "$LOGFILE"
rsync -avh --delete /mnt/user/appdata/PostgreSQL_Immich/ root@$REMOTE_IP:/mnt/user/backup/appdata/PostgreSQL_Immich/ | tee -a "$LOGFILE"
rsync -avh --delete /mnt/user/appdata/redis/ root@$REMOTE_IP:/mnt/user/backup/appdata/redis/ | tee -a "$LOGFILE"
rsync -avh --delete /mnt/user/immich/ root@$REMOTE_IP:/mnt/user/backup/immich/ | tee -a "$LOGFILE"
log "Backup van Immich voltooid."

# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Containers opnieuw starten (omgekeerde volgorde)
# ----------------------------------------------------------
log "Containers opnieuw starten..."
for (( idx=${#CONTAINERS[@]}-1 ; idx>=0 ; idx-- )) ; do
    NAME="${CONTAINERS[idx]}"
    log "Start container: $NAME"
    docker start "$NAME" >> "$LOGFILE" 2>&1
    sleep 15
done
log "Containers succesvol opgestart."

log "==================== BACKUP KLAAR ===================="

Wakes up the backup-server and checks if it is online.

All containers are stopped in a specific order (immich, postgresql, redis).

Then the actual backup is made.

Containers are restarted in the reverse order (redis, postgresql, immich).

Logs are /var/logs/...

This script can probabely be improved but it works for me.