Help with backing up entire unraid before starting over

[truetype]

Hello!

 

I just recieved my new 4TB disk and wish to backup my entire unraid server containing 3,1TB of data including what's on cache disks.

My server went buggy after the automatic 6.2 update and now I wish to start over.

 

I wonder if someone could help me answering what's the most efficient and best way to backup my entire unraid server?

 

My first plan was plugging the 4TB into my W10 PC, installing CrashPlan on both unraid and on my W10 PC, and then back everything up to my 4TB disk.

But I don't know if syncthing is better and works for backing up everything?

 

If it matters, I use my server for:

VMs, dockers, plugins and NAS.

 

Thanks in advance,

TrueType

[Frank1940]

A bit off the subject but I would suggest that you also backup your Flash Drive.  To do this, stop the array (this is will prevent parity check if you have to restore from the backup).  Then copy the entire contents of the Flash Drive to a safe place on your PC.  This is also give you access to your configurations files as you will find that several of them will prove quite useful. 

 

Why are you worried about your data?  (unRAID does a good job of protecting data in version upgrades! Data problems are virtually never an issue unless there was a problem with data before the upgrade!)  Are you changing data disk formats?  Or are you the super cautious type? Or is this the first time that you have decided that backing up data is a really good practice?

[truetype]

A bit off the subject but I would suggest that you also backup your Flash Drive.  To do this, stop the array (this is will prevent parity check if you have to restore from the backup).  Then copy the entire contents of the Flash Drive to a safe place on your PC.  This is also give you access to your configurations files as you will find that several of them will prove quite useful. 

 

Why are you worried about your data?  (unRAID does a good job of protecting data in version upgrades! Data problems are virtually never an issue unless there was a problem with data before the upgrade!)  Are you changing data disk formats?  Or are you the super cautious type? Or is this the first time that you have decided that backing up data is a really good practice?

 

Yes of course, I want to backup my ENTIRE server including the flash memory.

I have my most important data stored safely in external disks. But this time I want to just make a full backup first so that I can choose wether I want to put back into my unraid after reinstall.

 

I know my data is very safe in unraid, and I want to keep it that way.

 

But my docker plugins and everything has got very buggy since the 6.2 update and there have been major changes like "appdata" which lead to I want to delete all shares and all data and start over from scratch. I have also learned a great bunch of small caveats over this first year I've been using unraid, and I want to make it all good from a new start with nice arrangements of everything.

 

I could simply backup folder after folder, but since I in the future also want to make an other unraid server off-site backing up everything remotely in case of fire or anything. I suppose this is a perfect place to start.

[Frank1940]

So you are also doing a reorganization of your data.  I can now see why you want to go this route. 

 

I see you are looking at two Docker products to do this.  Hopefully, someone who has used one (or both) will soon jump in.  You might have a look at the support threads and that should give a insight into which one might better suit your your longer term goals and usage.

[greg_gorrell]

I had the same issues with 6.2.  I am very disappointed in Lime Tech releasing this version without proper testing.  But have a read at this link to see which config files you may want to save:  https://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Files_on_v6_boot_drive

 

I learned a lot from using unRAID that past year as well, so I started fresh but I kept all of my shares.  Its nice to have a copy of the flash drive so you can pick and choose the config files that are not going to change.  They say you can just change the bzroot and bzimage files but that I have found causes more headaches then a clean wipe.

[truetype]

So you are also doing a reorganization of your data.  I can now see why you want to go this route. 

 

I see you are looking at two Docker products to do this.  Hopefully, someone who has used one (or both) will soon jump in.  You might have a look at the support threads and that should give a insight into which one might better suit your your longer term goals and usage.

 

Yes, I hope someone could recommend me something. As I understand I cannot use syncthing really for my case.

 

I had the same issues with 6.2.  I am very disappointed in Lime Tech releasing this version without proper testing.  But have a read at this link to see which config files you may want to save:  https://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Files_on_v6_boot_drive

 

I learned a lot from using unRAID that past year as well, so I started fresh but I kept all of my shares.  Its nice to have a copy of the flash drive so you can pick and choose the config files that are not going to change.  They say you can just change the bzroot and bzimage files but that I have found causes more headaches then a clean wipe.

 

Yep, they have really made it harder for us this time. Hope they learned from this mistake, I am not stubborn and not angry, just a bit sad I have to go through this.

 

I will begin backing up everything, then format my disks and make a new clean server. Then I will use my backup of everything and only copy over my config files and media files and other data I need to keep safe.