Where does backup file go?

[RAS]

Hi All,

Under "System | Backup / Flash Firmware", when I click "Generate Archive" it appears to do something for a second or two, then nothing. Is LuCI actually building and DL'ing a file? If so, where would it go?

Russ

[dlakelan]

Wherever your browser puts downloaded files.

[lleachii]

@RAS

Is LuCI actually building and DL'ing a file? If so, where would it go?

To the folder you configured your web browser to save downloads.

[RAS]

... And there it is. I actually had that folder open and was watching but it did not auto-refresh.

Now how does one use that file to restore? Just feed it the .tar file as-is?

Thanks!

Russ

[lleachii]

@RAS

Now how does one use that file to restore? Just feed it the .tar file as-is?

(I love how your educated guesses are spot on!)

Yes, in general instances you'd just use that file as-is to restore the config. That can be done by pressing this button:

If you open it with an archive software, you'll be able to see the file structure - primarily the /etc/config folder and related files (and the others too) - but opening the file is not necessary to restore.

[psherman]

@RAS

Just feed it the .tar file as-is?

Actually, it should be a tar.gz file. If your browser+OS un-gz'd it immediately after it downloaded, you will need to re-gz it before you try to restore (the restore tool will not accept just the .tar file). This happened to me recently -- I normally have the "open 'safe' files" option disabled on Safari, I had forgotten to disable that option on one of my machines.

[RAS]

Yup, it is: "backup-OpenWrt-2023-06-20.tar.gz".

Now. Is there any way to back up the entire SD card as an image file? Both my PIs do nightly backups using "image-backup" utilities from @RonR at raspberrypi.org over WiFi to one of the R7000's two USB network drives.

I'd love to be able to duplicate that, just load an image instead of grunting through a bunch of files while wondering how much of the config won't make it...

Russ