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Backup Strategy

Last Updated: 2026-04-16 Purpose: What's backed up, where, how, and what to do when things fail.

Philosophy

The goal is multiple independent recovery paths for critical data. Not everything follows strict 3-2-1, but the most critical data (Home Assistant, photos, documents) has both local and cloud copies.

What's Backed Up

Data Method Destination Tested?
Home Assistant config HA built-in backup (automated) Nabu Casa Cloud + Lotus share ⚠️ No
Home Assistant VM Proxmox Backup Server Lotus (PBS container) ⚠️ No
Pacific LXC containers Proxmox Backup Server Lotus (PBS container) ⚠️ No
Docker appdata (Lotus) Appdata Backup plugin Cooper ⚠️ No
Unraid flash/USB (Lotus) Appdata Backup plugin (flash backup) Cooper ⚠️ No
Docker appdata (Cooper) Appdata Backup plugin Lotus ⚠️ No
Data shares (Lotus) LuckyBackup Cooper ⚠️ No
Desktop PC (Brabham) Veeam Lotus ⚠️ No
Offsite — None configured ❌

Home Assistant Backups (Detail)

HA is the most critical service and has two independent backup methods:

Method 1 — HA built-in backup: - Automated, runs on a schedule from within Home Assistant - Copies stored in two locations: - Nabu Casa Cloud (offsite) — 5 GB limit; retains one backup only, so each run overwrites the last - Lotus (local) — habackups share on Lotus NAS; retains multiple backups - Restoring from this recovers HA config, automations, integrations, add-ons - Restore time: ~45 minutes - Use this if HA is broken but Pacific is working fine

Method 2 — Proxmox Backup Server: - Full VM snapshot of the Home Assistant OS VM (VM 112) - Stored on Lotus via the PBS Docker container - Restoring from this brings back the entire VM — OS + config + add-ons - Restore time: ~90 minutes - Use this if the HA VM itself is corrupt or won't boot

See Home Assistant Recovery for step-by-step restore procedures.

Appdata Backup Plugin (Detail)

The Appdata Backup plugin (by Robin Kluth) on Lotus handles two things:

1 — Docker appdata backup: - Backs up /mnt/cache/appdata/ to Cooper nightly - Destination on Cooper: //192.168.1.60/backups → lotus/ab_YYYYMMDD_HHmmss/ - Retains rolling daily backups; older ones are automatically pruned

2 — Unraid flash (USB) backup: - Creates a ZIP of the Unraid boot USB config (the flash drive contents) - Copies it to Cooper at: //192.168.1.60/backups/lotus/justtheusb/ - Restoring from this recovers Unraid array config, plugin list, Docker templates, and network settings without a full reinstall

Important: The Appdata Backup plugin connects to Cooper via Unassigned Devices remote share mounted at /mnt/remotes/COOPERDOMAIN_backups. This share must be configured with Cooper's IP address (192.168.1.60), not its hostname — hostnames like COOPER.LOCALDOMAIN can resolve incorrectly on Lotus (see Lessons Learned).

Critical Data Priority

  1. Home Assistant config — automations, integrations, years of setup
  2. Photos — via Immich on Lotus (no offsite backup yet — high priority gap)
  3. Documents — via Paperless-NGX on Lotus (no offsite backup yet)
  4. Application configs — Docker appdata backed up to Cooper
  5. Media — Plex library (can be re-acquired, lowest priority)

Physical Separation

Lotus and Cooper are not in the same building:

  • Lotus (primary NAS) — office outbuilding
  • Cooper (backup NAS) — living room (house)

This provides meaningful protection against localised incidents — a fire, flood, or theft affecting one building is unlikely to affect both. It is not true offsite backup (same property, same power supply, same catastrophic weather risk) but it is significantly better than two devices in the same room.

For true offsite resilience, a cloud backup of critical data (photos, documents) would be the next step.

Known Gaps

  • HA backups only go to Lotus, not Cooper — if Lotus is unavailable, only the single Nabu Casa cloud copy exists. HA backups should also be sent to Cooper as a second local destination
  • HA cloud backup retention — Nabu Casa keeps only one backup; consider adding a second cloud provider (e.g. Backblaze B2, Storj) for a more durable offsite copy
  • No cloud/offsite backup for photos (Immich) or documents (Paperless-NGX) — physical separation helps but does not cover all scenarios
  • Backup restoration has not been tested for any service
  • No monitoring alerts for failed backup jobs

Restore Testing Schedule

  • [ ] Last HA backup restore test: never
  • [ ] Last Proxmox VM restore test: never
  • [ ] Last Docker appdata restore test: never
  • [ ] Last file share restore test: never

A backup you've never restored from is an untested backup.