Operator · Explanation

How backups work#

An Inkhold backup is a folder of ordinary files that any copying tool, NAS or cloud folder carries intact, and that a restore needs nothing else to read.

Snapshots and one store of files#

The folder holds one store of files and a folder per snapshot:

• The store keeps every file once, named by its content. A notebook that hasn’t changed since last night isn’t copied again.
• A snapshot is a copy of the database at that moment, and a list of the files it needs from the store.

What the backup folder holds: one store of files, and a folder per night that points into it.

So each night’s backup copies only what is new and stays small, yet every snapshot is complete on its own: restoring one needs that snapshot and the store, never a chain of earlier ones. --keep=7 keeps the newest seven and removes files no kept snapshot needs.

Safe while the server runs#

A backup runs beside a running server, at low priority, without stopping syncs. It copies the files first, then a consistent copy of the database, and then any file that copy names and the store still lacks. A snapshot appears only once complete: an interrupted one is never mistaken for a backup.

Checking without restoring#

inkhold backup verify checks that each snapshot is whole and its list of files present. --deep also re-reads every file and the database, page by page: it proves the backup can be restored without restoring it.

What it leaves out#

cred.key, unless you ask for it with --include-cred-key, so a stolen backup reveals no passwords. Restoring without it still brings back every notebook; each account gets a temporary password.

Back up automatically has the commands.