Hi all, I got a question via a different channel which seems relevant to the backup campaign so I wanted to ask and start answering it here. The question is: how do I backup my Nextcloud data?
We obviously have server backups that go back 10 days and cover all the data in Nextcloud, but it is hard to make your own backups of your own user data.
The (relatively) easiest thing to backup is documents. If you install the Nextcloud desktop app, you should get a sync of all your files to your own computer. That gives you an emergency copy right off the bat. You can then, optionally, run a proper backup of that directory if you wanted to have a backup that allows you to access files that might have been deleted last week.
Similarly, if you want to do the same thing, but with a more server-friendly method, you can install the Nextcloud command line client ( Command Line Client — Nextcloud latest Administration Manual latest documentation ) to sync your files to a server (and again, optionally run a backup on that directory).
With Calendar and Contacts, you can sync these with your cell phone and/or Desktop program (like Thunderbird) for an emergency backup copy. But getting a properly dated backup is a bit harder. I think a tool like vdirsyncer might be useful to get everything into a directory that can be backed up?
Sadly, I don’t see any indication of a Nextcloud app that would allow a user to download all their stuff in a convenient format. I found one lonely postbut nothing else. So, backing up your forms, or decks, or other pieces of content does not seem possible?