Move/Copy VM from PBS to external USB

[andersostling56]

I'd like to copy a template VM from a PBS backup location (my NAS) to on USB for import on another PVE system.
If anyone could point me to a guide or instruction, I would be very grateful. It's PVE 8.2 and the latest PBS.

The directory on the NAS have this content

root@pbs:~# ls -lash /NASBACKUP/vm/108/2024-10-22T16\:17\:55Z/

4.0K -rw-r--r-- 1 backup backup 792 Oct 22 18:18 client.log.blob
132K -rw-r--r-- 1 backup backup 132K Oct 22 18:18 drive-virtio1.img.fidx
4.0K -rw-r--r-- 1 backup backup 417 Oct 22 18:18 index.json.blob
4.0K -rw-r--r-- 1 backup backup 378 Oct 22 18:17 qemu-server.conf.blob

I guess that the actual data is stored on the ".chunks" folders here. So much to learn

root@pbs:~# ls -lash /NASBACKUP/

1.1M drwxr-x--- 1 backup backup 1.1M Oct 20 20:39 .chunks
4.0K drwxr-xr-x 3 backup backup 4.0K Oct 20 21:09 ct
4.0K -rw-r--r-- 1 backup backup 297 Oct 22 00:04 .gc-status
0 -rw-r--r-- 1 backup backup 0 Oct 20 20:38 .lock
4.0K drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 4.0K Oct 20 20:24 @Recycle
4.0K drwxr-xr-x 8 backup backup 4.0K Oct 22 18:17 vm

Edit: I might have found a solution. Please let me know if that would be a correct way of doing it

PVE console:
Select the VM and click on Restore
Choose to restore to local (was originally local-zfs)
Navigate to /var/lib/vz/images/
Copy the resulting disk image to USB

On the new PVE's console:
Create a new VM without any attached disk
Note the number of the new VM
Copy the disk image from the USB to /var/lib/vz/images/<number>
Attach the disk image to the VM and boot it

 

[Chris]

Hi,
easiest way would be to directly connect the other PVE to the PBS and restore the backup from there.
An alternative might be to setup the usb stick as storage on the PVE containing the template, perform a regular vma backup of the VM onto the stick, detach the storage and attach it on the other PVE as storage for restore.

 

[andersostling56]

Hi,
easiest way would be to directly connect the other PVE to the PBS and restore the backup from there.
An alternative might be to setup the usb stick as storage on the PVE containing the template, perform a regular vma backup of the VM onto the stick, detach the storage and attach it on the other PVE as storage for restore.

Thanks. I will try the second approach since this is two different physical sites