this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Docker Backup Stratagy (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by njordomir@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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Hello Self-Hosters,

What is the best practice for backing up data from docker as a self-hoster looking for ease of maintenance and foolproof backups? (pick only one :D )

Assume directories with user data are mapped to a NAS share via NFS and backups are handled separately.

My bigger concern here is how do you handle all the other stuff that is stored locally on the server, like caches, databases, etc. The backup target will eventually be the NAS and then from there it'll be double-backed up to externals.

  1. Is it better to run #cp /var/lib/docker/volumes/* /backupLocation every once in a while, or is it preferable to define mountpoints for everything inside of /home/user/Containers and then use a script to sync it to wherever you keep backups? What pros and cons have you seen or experienced with these approaches?

  2. How do you test your backups? I'm thinking about digging up an old PC to use to test backups. I assume I can just edit the ip addresses in the docker compose, mount my NFS dirs, and failover to see if it runs.

  3. I started documenting my system in my notes and making a checklist for what I need to backup and where it's stored. Currently trying to figure out if I want to move some directories for consistency. Can I just do docker-compose down edit the mountpoints in docker-compose.yml and run docker-compose up to get a working system?

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[–] not_amm@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Damn, those stories scare me a lot because I can't afford good enough backups right now, so I rely on mirroring via Syncthing what I can and using an USB for my server (fortunately I don't have a lot of personal things). All the family memories are in multiple locations and devices so I don't have the time (nor storage) to backup those lol

Because of my situation, it takes me some time to save even for second hand things (I just bought a CPU and a new voltage regulator). I'm planning on buying some used HDDs as secondary storage and one as an external. Slowly but surely D:

[–] pory@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

A second device on site is still infinitely more resilient than just letting it rock. Most use cases where a backup would help can be covered by an occasional one way sync or scheduled copy to a USB drive. Offsite is for catastrophes like your home burning down or flooding.