My OSMC Backup: override temp. backup location?

Help and Support
1

Hi,

I’m about to migrate my 4K to the V but my 4K’s root partition is too full to hold the backup that’s temporarily stored locally before being copied to its final SMB destination. Is there a way to override/force a different path for the local backup file? Where is it anyway? I could easily use an USB-attached drive…

Yes, I know I can configure what’s being backed up but that’s besides the point as I’d prefer to have a full backup.

Thanks

2

I don’t know of a way to change the location, which if memory serves is in /tmp, but the path of least resistance is likely to just to delete the thumbnails folder in ~/.kodi/userdata to get the extra space you need. The thumbnails will all get regenerated on their own, at least for anything that the original source of the artwork is still valid.

You could also just manually copy the .kodi folder over to anywhere you want and then then on the new system just stop Kodi at the command line (systemctl stop mediacenter) and then replace the .kodi folder on the new system.

3

Thanks, that’s in fact happening already as we speak. I really wanted to avoid the regeneration, so I hope backing up the thumbs manually, deleting the original folder, running the backup without the thumbs, restoring it and then replacing the new empty folder with the old one just works (retaining the referenced thumbs) :pray:

But it would certainly be a good idea to let the user override the default temp. location to allow using USB drives or similar. The internal memory will always be more constrained… :bulb:

4

the location, which if memory serves is in /tmp

FWIW, it’s /tmp/osmc_backup. I presume linking that to some external path won’t help as the backup feature will almost certainly just query /tmp or / for its free space anyway. So yeah, an override option would be appreciated.

5

It should work IF you replace the thumbnails folder the same time as the databases with both being done without Kodi running. My understanding of the system is that the thumbnail references are being stored in the Textures13.db database and if Kodi is started without any of the original cached artwork then the references will be replaced when Kodi goes to access them and finds them missing. As long as the respective media databases, Textures13.db, and the Thumbnails folder show up together on the same Kodi startup then everything should be intact.

BTW there is nothing special about OSMC’s backup solution. It is just compressing the .kodi folder (with some selective options and a couple system files optionally) into a tar file and when restoring just stops Kodi and uncompressed that back before starting Kodi back up. You can perform the same task some other way. For example I’ve taken fresh installs and after enabling SMB server just ssh’d in, stopped Kodi, then from a Windows PC using windows networking renamed the .kodi folder on the new machine then dragged the .kodi from another OSMC box into the new one. It is rather slow to transfer this way with all the small files but it is easy with minimal thinking or interaction.

That would be one for @anxdpanic who is the dev on that. Personally, I’m not sure the extra complexity this would add to the UI would be justified as this isn’t something the frequently comes up as a issue.