Backups on Linux seems overwhelmingly complicated... - Lemmy.world

Yeah another post about backups, but hear me out. I read most of the other post here on lemmy, read through the documentation from different backup tools (rsync, Borg, timeshift) but all those backup tools are for “static” files. I mean I have a few docker container with databases, syncthing to sync files between server, Android, Desktop and Mac, a few samba shares between Server, Mac and Desktop. Per say on Borg’s documentation: - Avoid running any programs that might change the files. - Snapshot files, filesystems, container storage volumes, or logical volumes. LVM or ZFS might be useful here. - Dump databases or stop the database servers. - Shut down virtual machines before backing up their images. - Shut down containers before backing up their storage volumes. How I’m supposed to make a complete automated backup of my system if my files are constantly changing ? If I have to stop my containers, shutdown syncthing and my samba shares to make a full backup, that seams a bit to much of friction and prone to errors… Also, nowhere I could find any mention on how to restore a full backup with a LVM partition system on a new installed system. (User creation, filesystem partition…) Maybe, I have a bad understanding on how It works with linux files but doing a full backup this way feels unreliable and prone to corrupted files and backup on a server. VMs are easier to rollback with snapshots and could’t find a similar way on a bare metal server… I hope anyone could point me to the right direction, because right now I have the feeling I can only backup my compose-files and do a full installation and reconfiguration, which is supposed to be the work of a backup… Not having to reconfigure everything ! Thanks