--- title: Rebuilding Proxmox Backup Server from Backups | daily.dev description: A practical walkthrough for recovering a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) after a boot drive failure. Starting from a clean PBS install, the process covers... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/rebuilding-proxmox-backup-server-from-backups-06bop832b twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Rebuilding Proxmox Backup Server from Backups | daily.dev og:description: A practical walkthrough for recovering a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) after a boot drive failure. Starting from a clean PBS install, the process covers... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/rebuilding-proxmox-backup-server-from-backups-06bop832b og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/06bOP832B.png og:image:alt: Rebuilding Proxmox Backup Server from Backups og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Rebuilding Proxmox Backup Server from Backups **[apalrd's adventures](https://daily.dev/sources/apalrd)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A practical walkthrough for recovering a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) after a boot drive failure. Starting from a clean PBS install, the process covers importing an intact ZFS backup pool, manually creating a datastore.cfg to reconnect the datastore, using proxmox-backup-client to mount and rsync config files back, and restoring custom systemd auto-backup scripts. Key tips include using rsync instead of cp to preserve file permissions and running proxmox-backup-client logout to clear stale session caches after restore. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I restore Proxmox Backup Server configuration after reinstalling PBS from scratch? After a clean PBS install, import your ZFS pool with `zpool import -f `, then manually create `/etc/proxmox-backup/datastore.cfg` pointing to your datastore directory so PBS can find existing backups. Use `proxmox-backup-client` pointed at localhost to mount the backup, then rsync (not cp) the `/etc/proxmox-backup` directory back to preserve file permissions. Restart PBS services and run `proxmox-backup-client logout` to clear stale session caches. _Homelab admins rebuilding PBS setups share recovery notes and configs on daily.dev._ ### Why should I use rsync instead of cp when restoring Proxmox Backup Server config files? Using cp does not preserve file permissions, which can break PBS service startup and authentication after a restore. rsync retains ownership and permission bits, making it the correct tool when copying back the `/etc/proxmox-backup` directory from a mounted backup. _Proxmox operators tracking operational gotchas like this find peer-tested solutions on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [I moved an essential Proxmox tool to TrueNAS, and it solved my biggest storage problem](https://daily.dev/posts/i-moved-an-essential-proxmox-tool-to-truenas-and-it-solved-my-biggest-storage-problem-qbxtjfpdq) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [My Proxmox backups stopped being a storage nightmare with this workaround](https://daily.dev/posts/my-proxmox-backups-stopped-being-a-storage-nightmare-with-this-workaround-cxw3bmesc) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Proxmox Backup Server is the boring home lab upgrade that made me less afraid to break things](https://daily.dev/posts/proxmox-backup-server-is-the-boring-home-lab-upgrade-that-made-me-less-afraid-to-break-things-hxyzppueq) · XDA Developers · 4 upvotes · 2 comments - [Safely Upgrading Proxmox Backup Server from Version 3 to 4](https://daily.dev/posts/safely-upgrading-proxmox-backup-server-from-version-3-to-4-jazpgqbmz) · Noted · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#proxmox](https://daily.dev/tags/proxmox) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/rebuilding-proxmox-backup-server-from-backups-06bop832b) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Rebuilding Proxmox Backup Server from Backups","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/rebuilding-proxmox-backup-server-from-backups-06bop832b","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/rebuilding-proxmox-backup-server-from-backups-06bop832b"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:53:51.607Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:15:52.089Z","description":"A practical walkthrough for recovering a Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) after a boot drive failure. 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