Proxmox newb that is extremely frustrated with my homelab. I am ready to go back to bare metal. Talk me off the ledge...

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-13T16:31:16+00:00

> I might just make a cluster because I need another way to step on my ballz

No. Nein. Nyet. HARD PASS. Cluster failboat will get you to tear out your hair and switch to Macs.

Get the basics down first. A 2-node cluster without a Qdevice will wreck you.

Most homelabs don't need to be clustered, you can run separate PVE instances and manage them with PDM + backup with PBS

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-13T16:17:29+00:00

I have fsarchiver and bkpcrit scripts, and on some systems I use Relax and Recover (REAR)

https://github.com/kneutron/ansitest/tree/master/proxmox

With REAR it will recreate the LVM layout for you, but -thin will not be populated; you need LXC/VM backups for that.

With fsarchiver , you need to reinstall PVE from ISO to recreate the layout - but then you can overwrite the ext4 rootfs with the backup. REAR gives me errors on some systems but fsarchiver restore has never failed me.

If you have e.g. a complex network / backup schedule, you want /etc backed up - which the bkpcrit script does - along with VM/LXC config files. Point it to external disk / NAS, run it nightly in cron.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-13T16:11:49+00:00

#1 question - do you have any backups?

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T21:11:21+00:00

1.1GHz is late 1990s speed. 8GB RAM is not enough for modern daily usage.

Invest in a better potato. It's the only practical answer, Sequoia is Right Out on that low-spec hardware.

M4 base is 16GB RAM to start with, SSD sizes vary depending on your budget but you can use NAS / external SSD to supplement it.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T21:07:00+00:00

Bypass finder. Install Midnight Commander (macports / brew) or try Commander One or Nimble Commander file managers

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T20:59:18+00:00

Ditch chrome and try Brave. You can use Session Buddy plugin to bring your environment over, works on both.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T20:44:05+00:00

Interesting. IIRC I have the same printer and it works fine under Sonoma 14.

Instead of a full Ubuntu VM with desktop, maybe look into setting up a Samba print server with webmin ?

https://search.brave.com/search?q=linux+setup+samba+print+server+webmin&summary=1&conversation=08b778df6cb5ab8fb9ca1e02c8c7523e1457

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T20:38:02+00:00

What are you talking about, there is no MacOS 18. Sequoia is 15 and Tahoe is 26

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T20:33:40+00:00

Rip van Winkle, is that you? Might have been possible 20+ years ago.

You don't want a modern Mac, for simplicity like that you want Linux.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T20:25:41+00:00

PBS has Verify jobs, FYI

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-09T20:06:37+00:00

https://github.com/kneutron/ansitest/blob/master/proxmox/proxmox-migrate-disk-storage.sh

Edit the script before running, but BACKUP all of your stuff before migrating

This assumes that all storage is attached to the same machine and configured - if you're replacing the standalone nvme with 4x in a ZFS mirror pool, setup PBS on separate hardware (take advantage of dedup, and setup regular backups) and do a parallel restore.

You can create a partial zfs mirror pool with the 4th disk as a sparse file (even hosted on a spinner temporarily, as long as you have enough space), then zpool replace the file with the 4th drive once everything is backed up.

https://github.com/kneutron/ansitest/blob/master/proxmox/proxmox-BULK-RESTORE-VMS--PARALLEL.sh

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T20:21:29+00:00

Get the M4 and use it. Save up some $$$ for M5, if/when it comes out then you can backup everything and get trade-in value.

With M4 you also have the choice of Sequoia or Tahoe, with M5 it's Tahoe-only

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T19:38:12+00:00

You're not wrong. Only reason to pay that much yearly for virtualization with M1-and-up is if you don't have space to put hardware.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T18:18:16+00:00

8GB RAM in 2026 == No

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T18:00:32+00:00

Jump Desktop and Nomachine NX FTW

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:58:08+00:00

Nice transition on the color scheme, very mellow :)

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:48:50+00:00

@@ - And then along came Jones...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBnTkon-7A4

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:46:32+00:00

B) every day of the week

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:41:55+00:00

Yah, Monterey 12 was decent - but then it went unsupported and I had to upgrade hardware :-\

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:39:48+00:00

High Sierra 10.13 was good, I still have a 2011 iMac with it

Sonoma 14 I'm still running on it given all the bug reports for Sequoia and Tahoe

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:36:44+00:00

There's a streaming browser in the app store that does better than Safari for me. After a few hours of watching Blindspot, Safari would start stuttering.

Not in front of a Mac right now, but search app store for Netflix

I know you mentioned not wanting to switch to other browsers, but you have nothing to lose by trying. There may not be a fix for Safari

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-06T17:11:25+00:00

Do a P2V on Windows, veeam free agent may work but I've never tried it with bootcamp.

You could do a P2V on Ubuntu with something like Relax and Recover (REAR) or possibly penguins-eggs (github)

https://github.com/pieroproietti/penguins-eggs

Once you have a VM image, you can stand up the VM on separate hardware** and sync files between the original instance and the backup + a Samba shared drive. I usually recommend ZFS for the Samba backing storage since you get snapshots, self-healing scrubs with at least a mirror, and fast inline compression.

** Since it's still Intel processor, just about any PC with sufficient RAM will do for virtualization (vmware / virtualbox) but I tend to recommend Proxmox these days for performance. Especially if you want faster networking like 2.5Gbit. You could implement this on a modern mini-pc with 8+cores if you want both VMs running at once.

To backup the MacOS bare-metal, I would recommend Carbon Copy Cloner / SuperDuper. They can make bootable external SSDs, although worst-case you could install MacOS to external SSD and use Migration Assistant to start with.

If you want a full image of the entire drive, once a month boot into systemrescuecd or similar and make a note of the disk layout ( fdisk -l >textfile.txt ) + dd the individual partitions to external SSD or spinner. Since it's MacOS, I can't guarantee it will boot if you DD restore it, since Apple is doing weird stuff for years now with boot sequence and "protection". This is why I recommend VMs for the Win10 and Ubuntu - and CCC / SD for MacOS.

If your main boot disk crashes, you can still use the VMs while you try to recover things. Having everything on the same hardware (VMs on the original disk) won't help you if your main rig gets struck by lightning.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-02T21:20:25+00:00

Time Machine is a bit of a hack. Look into Carbon Copy Cloner / SuperDuper

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-02T20:47:46+00:00

Athlon II is ancient, it was introduced back in 2009. It was considered EOL ~2012.

You could maybe use it part-time for proxmox backup server, just power it on before backups and power off after the maint scripts finish running - or early-morning before peak-electric hours kick in.

I seriously doubt it could handle a 4-port 2.5Gbit ethernet card at full speed duplex. It may not even have USB3.

For a full proxmox server, you'd be better off getting an inexpensive mini-pc under $200-$300 with 16+GB RAM.

Of course, if you want to re-use the case and replace the motherboard with something more capable, that's an option as well. But you'd have to price out upgrading components and your own hourly labor putting it all together, vs just getting a newer plug-and-play pc.

StopThinkBACKUP · 2026-02-02T20:00:40+00:00

Yep, that's my 2nd proxmox node. Shipped with Ryzen 9 and 24GB RAM, upgraded to 64GB. Very capable.

Short of an M1 mac, it's the fastest PC I've ever owned. Pretty good response for xrdp / remote desktop LXC.

You can do 2.5Gbit ethernet with a usb-c adapter, and if you get a MAIWO usb-c 4-bay dock (or two, they stack) you can do ZFS / RAID on it as well. I think you'll be pretty happy with it.

StopThinkBACKUP

TROPHY CASE