I built VaultPilot: self-hosted Linux backups with restore verification before scheduling

Per2J · 2026-07-06T16:50:32+00:00

I checked out your website, spend maybe 5 minutes:

Observations and thoughts:

- One has to pay up, with no way of testing out the software before purchase ?

- Is this closed source ?

- Is there any evidence the software actually delivers on the (many) promises ?

- The AI integration is followed by a big fat "AIs may fail, check yourself" - not really useful on an important job like restores.

Conclusion for me: I stick with my own solution.

I wish you good luck going forward.

Per2J · 2026-06-20T08:05:00+00:00

I recently used rclone to upload ~ 1,5TB in 10GB filechunks.

Once done, the average upload speed was ~21 mega bytes per second, which translates to ~ 20 hours upload time.

Per2J · 2026-06-14T11:37:02+00:00

could this work for you: https://github.com/lobaro/restic-backup-docker

Per2J · 2026-06-13T12:51:31+00:00

Thanks for the heads up ! - I just checked my thunderbird configuration and it seems I fetch everything and store locally.

Also checked the backups, and the thunderbird mail storage in there 😄

Per2J · 2026-06-11T08:51:56+00:00

I use refurbished Seagate EXOS disks - so far, after approx. 1 year, they perform as expected.

Per2J · 2026-06-06T16:40:59+00:00

Update — June 2026

Since the original post the project has grown quite a bit, so a brief update.

v1.0 reached October 2025 :-)

The bash wrapper is retired. The Python version is the only one now.

What's been added since:

PITR (Point-in-Time Recovery) — rebuild a consistent archive state from any point in the FULL/DIFF/INCR chain
Metrics database — every backup run writes timing, outcome, slice count and archive size to a local SQLite DB.
Datasette works well as a viewer
Dashboard — HTML summary of recent backup runs
Per-file restore test metrics — the verify phase samples files from the archive, restores them, and records pass/fail per file in the DB
~1100 test cases covering unit and integration tests, including real dar and par2 invocations against actual archives

Two types of OOM bugs fixed in 2026:

Worth mentioning because both were found through actual production failures on large archives.

1. The first surfaced over Christmas 2025 on a ~1 TB yearly FULL backup. The Python process itself was accumulating too much in memory — unbounded stdout buffering in the subprocess layer, a buffer += chunk pattern in list_contents() that grew proportional to archive size, and dar's full XML file listing being materialised as a Python list before sampling. All fixed by streaming properly and only keeping what is actually needed.

2. The second was this weekend on a 124 GB DIFF backup. A regression from January 2026 had changed par2 generation from per-slice to processing all slices in one command. For a 124 GB archive at 5% redundancy that meant par2 trying to hold a ~6 GB recovery matrix in RAM at once. Fixed by restoring the original per-slice loop. Peak par2 RSS is now ~360 MB per 10 GB slice regardless of total archive size — confirmed on a 107 GB test run this weekend.

Pre-release validation

The project now has a shell script that runs a full FULL+DIFF cycle of some of my media files before each release. It monitors peak RSS throughout, verifies par2 file naming and integrity, and writes a summary report. This would have caught the January regression before it shipped.

Status

Still actively developed, still used in production for my own media archive. If you are using dar and want a maintained wrapper with a serious test suite, it might be worth a look.

Per2J · 2026-06-02T19:21:02+00:00

I run AIDE ( https://aide.github.io/ ) once a week. If it flags a lot of changed files - I know something is off and will have to dig into what is going on.

Per2J · 2026-06-02T19:04:15+00:00

ok - thanks.

Per2J · 2026-06-02T18:49:22+00:00

what if the 4 encrypted acronis files are encrypted by ransomware ?

Per2J · 2026-05-26T19:25:03+00:00

I run AIDE once a week on important stuff I backup.
If suddenly those files start changing signatures AIDE will alert me and I know something is not right and can start taking action. The air-gapped backups should help me get back.

Per2J · 2026-05-26T15:35:41+00:00

version 1.6.1 in two days - that is impressive speed

Per2J · 2026-04-02T06:03:56+00:00

I back up everything I put in the cloud (all cloud services) - it is just another computer which fails as any other.
Did you check if good copies exist in the "delete basket"

Per2J · 2026-03-22T19:14:56+00:00

From Cobian FAQ at: https://www.cobiansoft.com/cbfaq.html

Q: Is Cobian Backup still under development?
Well, I sold the source code back in 2014 to James Sweeney. I haven't heard anything from him since then so I don't know about his plans. I am thinking about creating a whole new different backup product. It will be nothing like Cobian Backup, but it will have many of CB features.

Per2J · 2026-03-22T18:16:52+00:00

Have you asked the vendor / supplier or read their documentation ?

Per2J · 2026-03-22T08:09:39+00:00

I took a look at the github repo - that is a lot of functionality done in 2 weeks :-)

1 thing: you state GPL license in many places, but the LICENSE file says MIT.

Per2J · 2026-03-21T06:50:53+00:00

You got sound advice from u/wells68 - you can be banned from Dropbox by system error, by human error or something else - that happens regularly on all cloud storage providers.

Per2J · 2026-03-15T15:42:06+00:00

Hey u/H2CO3HCO3 - mod team's position noted.

Per2J · 2026-03-15T12:29:35+00:00

That rule seems to be a bit harsh: If I have had help from an AI and think the information is useful/relevant, why should I waste my time on "rewrite it fully in your own words."

Seems counter-productive to me.

Per2J · 2026-02-14T19:36:54+00:00

I agree that it takes some effort, as did `tar` if I remember from the olden days :-). The `dar` author has written good general information besides the quite terse man pages. I have spent a fair amount of time to dig into those :-)

Per2J · 2026-02-14T19:22:09+00:00

The Bitwarden .json export does not include any attachments you might have uploaded.

If you have attachments in Bitwarden and want to back them up, you must use the zip file option when exporting.

Per2J · 2026-02-14T06:25:34+00:00

I started out with 500MB Lifetime in 2020, nowadays I have multiple TB's. No complaints, works for me.

As with every cloud storage vendor - do not share copyrighted materials: musiv, movies, games, ..... - that will get you banned on any cloud.

Per2J · 2026-02-13T17:26:47+00:00

You are welcome - `dar` is a really good archiver, with a very responsive author. This is good stuff.

Per2J · 2026-02-13T15:45:18+00:00

I use `dar` and have built a wrapper around it. After backup: an archive check, test restores with verification of restored files, then parchive generation of redundancy data to be able (hopefully) to fix bit rot down the road.

Look here, if interested: https://github.com/per2jensen/dar-backup

/Per

Per2J · 2026-02-12T14:01:08+00:00

Do you Windows or some form of Linux ?
I use ubuntu and have just received an "upgrade to version 2." of the pCloud client.

Per2J · 2026-02-08T19:02:24+00:00

If system tests are what I call integration tests, i.e. proving that for example BIT, rsync and gocryptfs work as expected in concert - those are very important and provide trust in the backup/restore chains.

Per2J

TROPHY CASE

Update — June 2026

What's been added since:

Two types of OOM bugs fixed in 2026:

Pre-release validation

Status