how to change backup directory path once submitted?

[plrnr]

how to change backup directory path once submitted? I just tried to get a feel for it and put in a path. But now I want to change it. How can I do this?

[szaimen]

Hello, unfortunately there is no simple way to do this. The most easiest one is probably restoring the instance from the backup archive. Then you also have the option to choose a different path.

So basically:

1. create a backup
2. only continue if it is successful
3. save the backup password at a safe place
4. shut down the mastercontainer
5. prune all containers and volumes (see https://github.com/nextcloud/all-in-one#how-to-properly-reset-the-instance)
6. move the backup archive to a different place
7. Install AIO again and don't anter a domain in the first step! Instead enter in the first step in the instance restore section the new path and the backup password
8. done

[chiva]

@szaimen hit again the same error as on the 1st restore 😬
Didn't change anything since the last successful backup from last message.

Events since I first installed AIO are as follows:

• Installed AIO from scratch, but set wrong backup path.
• On the 1st restore I didn't delete anything and hit the error below.
• Then, deleted the config file, created a new snapshot/backup, and restored it
• On the 2nd restore (current one) I couldn't see the backup options due to the missing config file.
• Restored config file from the first snapshot as you indicated
• Did a backup correctly 3 days ago
• Now went to do a manual one, and hit the same error again.

Cannot initialize a new repository as that was already done at least one time.
If you still want to do so, you may delete the 'borg.config' file that is stored in the mastercontainer volume manually, which will allow you to initialize a new borg repository in the chosen directory:
sudo docker exec nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer rm /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/borg.config

How should proceed here?

[szaimen]

How should proceed here?

Is the drive still mounted where the backup archive is located?

[chiva]

Thanks again @szaimen ! That was it
Could we improve the error message to something like:

The folder doesn't contain a borg backup respository.
Cannot initialize a new repository as that was already done at least one time.
If you still want to do so, you may delete the 'borg.config' file that is stored in the mastercontainer volume manually, which will allow you to initialize a new borg repository in the chosen directory:
sudo docker exec nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer rm /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/borg.config

That way it should be more clear for users why it's failing 😄

[szaimen]

#2520

[funkybside]

Hello, unfortunately there is no simple way to do this. The most easiest one is probably restoring the instance from the backup archive. Then you also have the option to choose a different path.

So basically:

1. create a backup
2. only continue if it is successful
3. save the backup password at a safe place
4. shut down the mastercontainer
5. prune all containers and volumes (see https://github.com/nextcloud/all-in-one#how-to-properly-reset-the-instance)
6. move the backup archive to a different place
7. Install AIO again and don't anter a domain in the first step! Instead enter in the first step in the instance restore section the new path and the backup password
8. done

imo that process is absurd just to change a backup destination. I hope making this a simple path edit in the AIO's webui is on the docket. I want to change my destination simply because the aio results in root owner on unraid, which prevents duplicity and duplicati from successfully reading the files created (and I am not okay with running either of those as root as a workaround). I wasn't aware the AIO would do this, I stored the backups in a folder I know was already covered by my remote backup solution so now it's either basically reinstall NC AIO ro deal with the warnings (and failed remote backups) this results in.

[plrnr]

thanks I will try that. After restore, is it also going to restore the backup path according to what it was when the backup was taken?

[szaimen]

No, it will use the new backup path that was chosen for the restore.

[plrnr]

thanks!

[jzcad1828]

I ran across the same issue, I submitted realizing I submitted the wrong path. Instead of recreating everything, I stopped the containers from the AIO page and modified the "borg_backup_host_location" property in the ../nextcloud_aio_mastercontainer/_data/data/configuration.json file on the host. As soon as I refreshed the AIO page I could see the updated backup path, and taking a backup put the backups in the updated location.

EDIT: I should mention that I made this change BEFORE I created an initial backup, so borg hadn't yet created the initial repo in the wrong location. Still, I imagine you should be able to move the data from the incorrect location to the correct location and update the config to both see the old backups and store the new ones there, but I haven't tested that.

[marcgror]

Thanks, working great

[Maximilian-Staab]

I did this after I already initialized the backup. Used this to switch from a mount point on the host to a docker nfs volume.

[BraianPita]

Thanks for this information. I was able to successfully move my borg folder from my old to my new backups location and change the configuration file as you mention here. Then, I restarted my mastercontainer and everything worked fine and I was able to create a new increment of my backup without issues

[thiswillbeyourgithub]

For anyone still struggling with this in 2025: The configuration.json file is in /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/configuration.json inside the nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer container.

[rb-26]

Thanks @jzcad1828 for your notes!

My example was that I had set the location then had already run the initial backup. Here is what I did:

• Stopped the containers from the AIO interface
• Modified the "borg_backup_host_location" property in /nextcloud_aio_mastercontainer/data/configuration.json file
• Tried to backup and got an error with a command to run to resolve it
• Ran "docker exec nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer rm /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/borg.config"
• Ran initial backup again from AIO interface
• Backup completed to new location with no issues

Hope this helps someone in the future who might be in the same boat as I was.

[wiwixu]

This work 100% to me on Nextcloud version (31.0.5) Thanks

[D3monX]

Confirm that deleting borg.config and modifing configuration.json seem working good even if first backup was already succesfull.

So i did:

1. shell inside the mastercontainer:
   docker exec -it nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer /bin/bash
2. cd into the configuration dir:
   cd /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/
3. delete o rename borg.config
   rm borg.config
4. modify the value of "borg_backup_host_location" in configuration.json
   vi configuration.json (nano not present inside the container so needed to use vi)
5. exit from the nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer
   exit

At this point, in the AIO web interface it say the first backup was failed, and i was able to set new location of backups and make a new one.

Would be nice if devs would add this functionality on the AIO web frontend. It should be just a script to change the value in the configuration.json and delete the borg.config (maybe with a option to clean/delete old backup directory)

[cya9nide]

Works. Found this searching for answer. Thanks!

[ajmaradiaga]

This works perfectly!

[git529]

This worked for me too. Only difference is that I had to mv borg.config borg.config.bak then vi configuratio.joson then had to mv borg.config.bak borg.config again, otherwise the backup would fail.

[DarkLordGMS]

You no longer have to do this. You can just run this command and the "Reset backup location" button will show up in the AIO Interface

sudo docker exec nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer rm /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/borg.config

[funkybside]

Thank you, and 100% hard agree. It's bonkers that the 'official' solution is basically a reinstall of the system.

[DarkLordGMS]

To reset the backup location you just have run this command and the "Reset backup location" button will show up in the AIO Interface

sudo docker exec nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer rm /mnt/docker-aio-config/data/borg.config

[Eysenor]

This is the way. Did it yesterday and it worked super easily with AIO on unraid.
Why can't the botton just be there all the time I do not understand. Just clicked the botton, chose the new location and remade the backup. I tried before moving the old backups to the new location but it did not work making a backup when those where there.
So just point to an empty folder and redo the backup.

Thanks a lot for the advice, this should be the one answer marked as solution.

[mbc0]

Hi,

Hoping there is someone here that understands how this works on unraid as I cannot seem to find a way to set a backup path outside of the docker file? I have set user files to an unraid share which does seem to work for that purpose but how can I store the backups outside of the docker? Thank you (hoping!!)

From NextcloudAIO
Backups will be created in the following directory on the host: /NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR/backups/borg

The unraid template

[chiva]

From the looks of your terminal, backups are being stored on the host, outside of the Docker container.
And regarding the path /NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR/, seems like you set literally that as the backup path.
You have to define the path from the root of your host machine (Unraid), it is not looking into Docker.

You will need to change the backup path from /NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR/ (which I'm not sure it'd even survive a reboot on Unraid) to something like /mnt/user/appdata/nextcloudaio/borg_backup, or create a backup Share for example /mnt/user/nextcloud_backup/ or point it to an NFS/Samba share, really depends on your setup.

[mbc0]

Thank you so much for your response!

in the docker template there is a variable (not path) for NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR and it is set to /mnt/user/nextcloudaio This created a share on my unraid server which I can access and it is definitely on my shares

I can see the files are on disk 14 on my server

What I would like to do is change the backup path to that location and create a backup folder or even better change the location to my backup folder on unraid (/mnt/user/Backups) However I have 2 issues

1, how do I access the nextcloudaio share from nextcloudaio? I cannot find the path?
2, how can I add a path to my mnt/user/Backups folder in the template? I have tried adding paths but I cannot access them? should I been adding paths as a variable? (this does not make sense to me but must be working as the variable NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR/ seems to connect to my shares?

I appreciate all your help! thank you

[chiva]

Hey @mbc0 !

Best if we can keep the conversation within a thread, by answering to the last message, so we don't spawn different convesations 😉

1. Looks like everything is fine then. If the share exists and the path is NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR environment variable of the Docker template (your 1st image), then you don't need anything else, all good.
   I don't think NEXTCLOUD_DATADIR is used in the AIO container directly.
   It'll be passed on and used by a child Nextcloud container that it spawns when starting it, as it launches 4-6 containers (depending on your feature selection), but you don't really need to know where is it used internally (I don't, that's the good thing of the AIO).

2. The backup path is not set in the template, it just needs to be defined in the AIO interface
   So, start the AIO container, visit the admin page:
   https://<YOUR_AIO_IP:8089/containers
   Go to the Backup and restore section, and you'll see a field to input the path for backups (it is not visible in my case as it'll disappear as soon as you set one).
   Use the path of your host server (Unraid) for where you want the backup to be stored. AIO will then create a backup folder inside that path and store all the resulting Borg Backup files.
   Recommended to use a different Share than the one for Appdata, so they are not mixed, something like a Share named nextcloud_backup and then use the path to that /mnt/user/nextcloud_backup.
   And hopefully eventually setup something that copies it to a different server so you have proper backup redundancy 👍 .
   

[mbc0]

So sorry, I did not mean to create a new thread! I have just hit reply to type this, so hope it is ok!

I think I was overthinking/not thinking correctly, I just followed the fresh install/reset procedure and typed /mnt/user/Backups/nexcloudaio/ and run a backup to find everything in my shares! so great news & thank you so much for your time! all appears to be working well.

[SnejPro]

How I switched from local storage to ssh storage

I wanted to switch to ssh repository without recreating the backup repository.

Prerequisites:

1. The backup repository has been moved to ssh storage.
2. You should make a copy of the backup and store it somewhere else in case something goes horribly wrong.

To-do:

1. SSH: Connect to the Docker host via SSH
2. SSH; shell inside mastercontainer
   docker exec -it nextcloud-aio-mastercontainer /bin/bash
3. SSH; change directory
   cd /mnt/docker-aio-config/data
4. SSH: move config file temporarily
   mv borg.config borg.config.bkp
5. Browser: open AIO frontend
6. Browser: scroll down to "reset location"
7. Browser: set new location path to borg repository: ssh://[...]
8. Browser: Click "create backup" (it will fail, because ssh-key is not set yet)
9. SSH: Move the configuration file back
   mv borg.config.bkp borg.config
10. Browser: Get ssh-key from AIO
11. Borg-storage: add ssh-key to ssh-host

Thanks to you all. :)

[burajiruhito]

This works like a charm. Thaks.

[szaimen]

Hi, just to mention it, we now show a Reset backup location button all the time: #7185

This is now released with v12.2.0 Beta. Testing and feedback is welcome! See https://github.com/nextcloud/all-in-one#how-to-switch-the-channel