Back up and restore with Borg

Use a compatible Borg 1.x client with this service. The account's Borg repository is fixed at /data/borg. Configure the cn-backup SSH alias and verify the host fingerprint with SFTP first.

Initialize once

borg init --encryption=repokey cn-backup:/data/borg

Choose and retain the repository passphrase. Export the repository key to a safe local location:

borg key export cn-backup:/data/borg ./caliber-borg-key.txt

Keep the key export and passphrase accessible separately from the storage account. Initialize only a new repository; reconnecting from another computer does not require initializing it again.

Create and list archives

borg create --stats \
  'cn-backup:/data/borg::{hostname}-{now:%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S}' \
  ./documents
borg list cn-backup:/data/borg
borg info cn-backup:/data/borg

The archive name identifies one backup run. Each additional run creates another archive while Borg deduplicates repeated content.

Restore an archive

Copy an archive name from borg list, replacing ARCHIVE_NAME below:

borg list cn-backup:/data/borg::ARCHIVE_NAME
mkdir -p ./borg-restore
cd ./borg-restore
borg extract cn-backup:/data/borg::ARCHIVE_NAME

Extraction writes into your current local directory. Open several restored files before using them to replace live data.

Check and manage retention

borg check cn-backup:/data/borg
borg prune --dry-run --list --keep-daily 7 --keep-weekly 4 cn-backup:/data/borg

Review the proposed archive removals. Remove --dry-run only when those removals match your retention plan. With a Borg 1.x version supporting compaction, borg compact cn-backup:/data/borg reclaims space after pruning. Avoid overlapping maintenance and backup jobs.

If Borg reports a version mismatch, record both the client version (borg --version) and the error for support. Do not substitute Borg 2 commands or a custom borg serve path into this guide.

Borg's upstream command reference covers additional archive and restore options.