Maybe I state the obvious here but anyway:

Tonight I found a super comfi way to browse and restore data from Borg repositories. In vorta you can add any existing borg repository and mount the containing backups in a very functional GUI. Until now I somehow assumed you could only deal with backups created in vorta which is not true.

For context let me explain why I find that so useful: I am using a wonderful Borg / Borgmatic container from the borgmatic collective. It works super reliable. But for restoring files you have to mount the backup in the container and deal with the files inside the container. This can be difficult i.e. when looking for a specific file in a folder with a lot of files (like a foto collection where you accidentally deleted one file).

If any Borg users are out there: I would be interested what your workflows look like.

  • shadowbert
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    18 months ago

    Is there a way to have an ssh remote without borg installed on the target?

    • @witten
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      38 months ago

      Nope! Borg always requires Borg on the remote side. It’s Borg’s biggest strength and weakness versus competing backup systems IMO. Strength, because it can do pretty smart stuff with its own code running on both sides. Weakness, because it means it doesn’t work natively with cloud object storage like S3. It’s a tradeoff like anything else.

      • shadowbert
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        8 months ago

        Makes sense - compromises like you say.

        So in the context of unraid, do I just run the borgmatic container on both ends? Or should there be a specific ‘server’ one?

        EDIT: I found borgserver. I’m pretty sure that’s the correct one to use.

        • @witten
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          28 months ago

          I’m not super familiar with Unraid, but yeah, the borgserver image sounds like it’d work for this… You don’t need borgmatic on the server side unless you want it there to make running Borg commands easier.

          • shadowbert
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            8 months ago

            Is it normal for borg to nag for my password so many times?

            80a8f8fc1129:/# borgmatic list
            local: Listing archives
            Enter passphrase for key /mnt/borg-repository:
            Enter passphrase for key /mnt/borg-repository:
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T14:54:25.535734 Wed, 2023-11-08 14:54:28 [5a6245718dcb7e7dfec023cf0a62f568a9714b0f27d7a422e97b44870e9ecfbd]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T14:55:06.056089 Wed, 2023-11-08 14:55:08 [bce2ae9ff5b58212993281c938eb6812fe706bb1b62b80e40a32d38179f3b86c]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T14:55:24.704310 Wed, 2023-11-08 14:55:28 [7793ab62dac221d3b90434c19e0c44f917c9caedbc6250b71c86c78327348539]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T15:01:25.862051 Wed, 2023-11-08 15:01:28 [b1c83dc0ccd3d04ddfcb7d39358e8978f93a705b792105ef9c0389faf6d6e387]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T15:02:25.774879 Wed, 2023-11-08 15:02:28 [fe74cdf86dceea5a21d5305e3314733adf31d5cfe3d63e934381cec2176e59c2]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T15:02:31.879678 Wed, 2023-11-08 15:02:38 [9a2189207aa475ac866a4f7aa62d6d3c83ae53bd008dd4240de2b4277554620e]
            local: Listing archives
            Enter passphrase for key /mnt/borg-repository:
            Enter passphrase for key /mnt/borg-repository:
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T14:54:25.535734 Wed, 2023-11-08 14:54:28 [5a6245718dcb7e7dfec023cf0a62f568a9714b0f27d7a422e97b44870e9ecfbd]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T14:55:06.056089 Wed, 2023-11-08 14:55:08 [bce2ae9ff5b58212993281c938eb6812fe706bb1b62b80e40a32d38179f3b86c]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T14:55:24.704310 Wed, 2023-11-08 14:55:28 [7793ab62dac221d3b90434c19e0c44f917c9caedbc6250b71c86c78327348539]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T15:01:25.862051 Wed, 2023-11-08 15:01:28 [b1c83dc0ccd3d04ddfcb7d39358e8978f93a705b792105ef9c0389faf6d6e387]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T15:02:25.774879 Wed, 2023-11-08 15:02:28 [fe74cdf86dceea5a21d5305e3314733adf31d5cfe3d63e934381cec2176e59c2]
            80a8f8fc1129-2023-11-08T15:02:31.879678 Wed, 2023-11-08 15:02:38 [9a2189207aa475ac866a4f7aa62d6d3c83ae53bd008dd4240de2b4277554620e]
            80a8f8fc1129:/#
            
            

            Context: I have 2 config files, as I would prefer to have each app I want backed up in a separate config if reasonable. I don’t have a remote setup yet - it’s just using a local repository.

            • @witten
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              28 months ago

              Separate configs is totally reasonable. It just sounds like you haven’t configured your Borg passphrase with borgmatic… Otherwise it wouldn’t prompt for your passphrase at all.

              • shadowbert
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                8 months ago

                I missed that part in the docs - thanks. Now it’s working way better. Thanks heaps - I’m going to trial this alongside my duplicati for a bit (as I’ve heard a few too many horror stories about duplicati…)

                • @witten
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                  28 months ago

                  I hope one (or both!) of them end up working out for you.

    • @raldone01
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      28 months ago

      You could always sftp mount the repo if you cant install borg but have sftp support. Probably won’t be as efficient though.