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Manual · 12

System backup & emergency SD

SD Migrator automatically backs up its own configuration and, if needed, the entire system to your USB drives. With an emergency SD card you can restore the Pi even on the road, for example if the internal NVMe is faulty or the settings have been misconfigured.

System backup

You can find the status of the backups on the Drives page under System backup. You don’t need to start anything; the backup runs automatically.

What is backed up

  • Configuration – daily at 8:00, 12:00 and 23:00. It is only a few MB in size:
    • your settings
    • certificates for the encrypted connection
    • cloud and Wi-Fi credentials
    • the status database
    • voice recordings and music
    • SSH keys
    • boot and firmware settings of the Pi
    • the list of installed programs
  • System image – a copy of the entire system without media, cache and downloads. A new image is created when the system has changed and the last image is older than 20 hours. A new one is created after 7 days at the latest in any case.

Where the backup goes

  1. The Pi first stores each backup internally. The cloud upload never includes it.
  2. It then copies it to every connected USB drive into the folder SD-Migrator-Systembackup and verifies the copy. Nothing is backed up to SD cards.
  3. The Pi briefly mounts any unmounted drives for this purpose.
  4. A drive that is currently missing receives the backup the next time it is plugged in.

Tip: A running media job always takes priority. The backup waits until your recordings have been copied.

Caution: The system image is larger than 4 GiB. Drives formatted as FAT32 therefore only receive the configuration. For a complete backup you need at least one drive with a different format.

Creating an emergency SD card

The emergency SD card contains a copy of the system in rescue mode. Use it to start the Pi if it no longer boots from the NVMe.

  1. Insert an SD card.
  2. Open Drives.
  3. Tap Create emergency SD.

The emergency SD card contains no credentials: no cloud, Wi-Fi, VPN or Claude keys and no certificates. SSH login is only possible with a key.

Caution: The Pi only boots from the emergency SD card if the SD card comes before the NVMe in the boot order. This is the factory setting of the Pi 5.

Label for the card

There is a label for the emergency SD card in 45 × 20 mm format (360 dpi). It carries two QR codes:

  • QR 1 connects your phone to the emergency Wi-Fi.
  • QR 2 opens the recovery page.

Restoring in an emergency

  1. Insert the emergency SD card into the Pi’s SD slot.
  2. Connect a USB drive containing a system backup.
  3. Switch on the Pi.
  4. Connect your phone to the open Wi-Fi network 2505-emergency.
  5. The recovery page opens automatically. If it doesn’t, go to http://10.42.0.1 in your browser.
  6. Select the backup, image, configuration and target.
  7. Choose the type of restore:
    • Full restore – for a new or faulty NVMe. The Pi creates the partitions and restores the system and configuration.
    • Configuration only – if the system boots but the settings have been misconfigured.
  8. Follow the progress. It is displayed until the restart.

Caution: Full restore erases everything on the target.

Notes on the recovery page

  • The button shows what is still missing before you can start.
  • Errors are shown at the top of the page.
  • If you plugged in a drive later, tap Search again.