Because the backup is not a live disk and nicely compressed for you, just run good ol "rsync -avzc vzdump-qemu-100-2016_11_11-09_30_41.vma.lzo /path/to/externalhdd --progress" and then you'll have a nice backup ready to go. I don't know if proxmox supports a direct backup like that without adding the disk as a datastore and then running the backup targeting it.

Great! I just need some more info. I should run this exact, generic command?

rsync -avzc vzdump-qemu-100-2016_11_11-09_30_41.vma.lzo /path/to/externalhdd --progress

I do not need to identify the device (i.e. dev/sda1) or the container on the HDD to get this to work? (I feel kind of dumb asking.)

Identify the device, then do

"sudo mkdir /externalhdd"
"sudo mount /dev/sdX /externalhdd"
then
"sudo rsync -avzc /datapool/backups-compressed/vzdump-qemu-100-2016_11_11-09_30_41.vma.lzo /externalhdd --progress"

I *think* I'm in the right directory here, if you get an error saying something along the lines as no such file, do
"cd /datapool/backups-compressed" then do "ls" and see what's in that folder. the lzo may just be in a subfolder depending on how the backups are set up.

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AB49K, you rock!

By following your instructions, I was able to complete the process, and I am ecstatic to see—at this very moment—that the backup is being copied to the XHDD. What a terrific relief!

Next step: I need to get this backup on the Clonezilla'd HD, more specifically in the folder that PM uses to boot the virtual machine. You mentioned: /var/lib/vz/images/<VM ID>. Correct?

May I please ask you to provide the sequence of commands I should input in order to copy this backup from my XHDD onto the Proxmox-powered HDD. Will I need to partition the HDD in any ways?

Can't believe I made it this far! It would have been impossible without your help, AB49K & Rickkkk!

Thanks again!

Are you using an different RAID set for your containers like on the old server?

If you are, the commands will be different - you may have to re-set up the storage devices to point to a local folder rather than the ZFS pool that it was on the original server.

No, I have one 2TB HDD in the box — that's it! I formatted the HDD, then cloned Proxmox on it using Clonezilla. That's all I did.

Alright!
So there is a few things we might need to do.

First make a directory
"sudo mkdir /var/lib/vzbackup"
Then mount the external disk the same way as before.
then do
"sudo rsync -avzc /externalhdd/vzdump-qemu-100-2016_11_11-09_30_41.vma.lzo /var/lib/vzbackup --progress"

Once that's done, you'll have to add the new storage locations to the server.

in the Proxmox panel, go to datacentre -> storage
There should be a storage called "local" there. Double click on that and make sure "Disk Image, ISO Image, Container Template and Container" are highlighted.

Then, go to Add -> directory

For the ID, just put 'backups' or something
directory is "/var/lib/vzbackup"
and for content, set it as "VZDump backup file"

Now under your server list, you should see a new storage location with the ID of the new backup location. Click on that, it should list all the backups copied to /var/lib/vzbackup. And then just highlight the backup and choose "restore"

That should be it.

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Glad to see you're progressing with AB49K's help. At this point, I have nothing in particular to add since AB49K has much more pertinent experience for your particular situation.

I'll still follow this until the end, mind you :-)

Cheers.

OK, backups all have been transferred to my XHDD. Happy camper! Before I go on and proceed to next step, I am sure I need to unmount the XHDD before unplugging the device. I tried to reverse the steps AB49K indicated to mount the XHDD and transfer the files with rsync. It does not work.

What is the command to unmount the external HDD? I tried "unmount /dev/sdXX /externalhdd" without luck.

The command is not . The command is .
I hope that helps.

Thanks wpeckham!

The backups were not copied the XHDD. I got an error message at the very end, something to do with read-only. I have a WD 2TB Elements, factory formatted. SHould we create a distinct Linux partition on this drive? Or create a folder through Windows (e.g. root/dump) and copy the files in that folder instead of at the disk's root?

That's odd. If there was a read-only flag on the file-system, I think you would have gotten a message immediately - not near the end of the copy cycle. Could you run a command on the machine your 2TB drive is plugged into :

Thx.

Retried — does not work. See snapshots.

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Hi Jay,

Try moving it into a different directory in the external HDD?
I can't really see what the rest of the error is due to the flash.
Did the .lzo get moved to the HDD anyway? do "ls -l /externalhdd/"

No, it did not. See screenshots. I created the 'dump' folder yesterday through Windows. What would the command to try to copy in that folder?

I would guess:

sudo rsync -avzc dump/externalhdd/vzdump-qemu-100-2016_11_11-09_30_41.vma.lzo /var/lib/vzbackup --progress

Please confirm.

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