Sync 'older' Backups

[the_MiCrO]

Hi,

ist there a way to sync older backups?

Situation:
We provisioned a new remote PBS. since the Backups are huge, we decided to sync the latest Snapshot first ( Sync Last = 1 ). But after succesfully syncing changing "Sync last" to empty ( A value of 99 results in the same behaviour ) PBS only pulls snapshots newer than the initial one....

Pull Sync Job Log

2026-06-30T08:08:18+02:00: Starting datastore sync job 'pbslocal:Solo:Solo:Loc1/Fileserver:s-f653d1d0-9406'
2026-06-30T08:08:18+02:00: sync datastore 'Solo' from 'pbslocal/Solo'
2026-06-30T08:08:18+02:00: ----
2026-06-30T08:08:18+02:00: Syncing datastore 'Solo', namespace 'Loc1/Fileserver' into datastore 'Solo', namespace 'Loc1/Fileserver'
2026-06-30T08:08:18+02:00: Found 4 groups to sync (out of 4 total)
2026-06-30T08:08:18+02:00: [host/stor05]: group sync done: percentage done: 0.00% (0/4 groups)
2026-06-30T08:08:19+02:00: [host/test]: group sync done: percentage done: 0.00% (0/4 groups)
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/IT]: host/IT: skipped: 20 snapshot(s) (2025-11-14T09:32:22Z .. 2026-06-19T10:50:54Z) - older than the newest snapshot present on sync target
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/IT]: re-sync snapshot 2026-06-22T06:11:48Z
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: host/RawMedia: skipped: 27 snapshot(s) (2025-10-28T06:28:20Z .. 2026-06-19T10:22:31Z) - older than the newest snapshot present on sync target
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: re-sync snapshot 2026-06-22T06:08:52Z
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-22T06:08:52Z: no data changes
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: snapshot 1/2 within host/RawMedia is done, 2/4 groups done
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-30T05:41:24Z: start sync
2026-06-30T08:08:21+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-30T05:41:24Z/RawMedia.ppxar.didx: sync archive
2026-06-30T08:08:22+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-22T06:11:48Z: no data changes
2026-06-30T08:08:22+02:00: [host/IT]: snapshot 1/2 within host/IT is done, 2/4 groups done
2026-06-30T08:08:22+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-30T05:44:23Z: start sync
2026-06-30T08:08:22+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-30T05:44:23Z/IT.ppxar.didx: sync archive
2026-06-30T08:08:27+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-30T05:44:23Z/IT.ppxar.didx: downloaded 1.048 MiB (172.507 KiB/s)
2026-06-30T08:08:27+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-30T05:44:23Z/IT.mpxar.didx: sync archive
2026-06-30T08:08:27+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-30T05:44:23Z/IT.mpxar.didx: downloaded 1.338 MiB (4.278 MiB/s)
2026-06-30T08:08:27+02:00: [host/IT]: 2026-06-30T05:44:23Z: sync done
2026-06-30T08:08:27+02:00: [host/IT]: snapshot 2/2 within host/IT is done, 2/4 groups done
2026-06-30T08:08:27+02:00: [host/IT]: group sync done: percentage done: 75.00% (3/4 groups)
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-30T05:41:24Z/RawMedia.ppxar.didx: downloaded 565.532 MiB (2.02 MiB/s)
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-30T05:41:24Z/RawMedia.mpxar.didx: sync archive
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-30T05:41:24Z/RawMedia.mpxar.didx: downloaded 4.482 MiB (8.122 MiB/s)
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: 2026-06-30T05:41:24Z: sync done
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: snapshot 2/2 within host/RawMedia is done, 3/4 groups done
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: [host/RawMedia]: group sync done: percentage done: 100.00% (4/4 groups)
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: Finished syncing namespace Loc1/Fileserver, current progress: 4 groups, 0 snapshots
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: Summary: sync job pulled 572.4 MiB in 345 chunks (average rate: 1.994 MiB/s)
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: sync job 'pbslocal:Solo:Solo:Loc1/Fileserver:s-f653d1d0-9406' end
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: queued notification (id=56bf38a1-394d-4062-a8ef-fdd92a67d413)
2026-06-30T08:13:14+02:00: TASK OK

Local PBS:
#proxmox-backup-client snapshot list -ns 'Loc1/Fileserver'

+=========================================+=============+====================================================+
| snapshot | size | files |
+=========================================+=============+====================================================+
....truncated....
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-02-04T11:57:22Z | 237.157 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-03-09T16:25:29Z | 233.901 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-04-21T06:00:01Z | 236.238 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-04-27T08:40:53Z | 236.233 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-06-09T07:59:36Z | 237.75 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-06-19T10:50:54Z | 237.923 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-06-22T06:11:48Z | 237.922 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/IT/2026-06-30T05:44:23Z | 237.933 GiB | IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
....truncated....

| host/RawMedia/2026-04-21T05:55:19Z | 23.042 TiB | RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/RawMedia/2026-04-27T08:37:58Z | 23.046 TiB | RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/RawMedia/2026-06-09T07:56:28Z | 23.056 TiB | RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/RawMedia/2026-06-19T10:22:31Z | 23.398 TiB | RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/RawMedia/2026-06-22T06:08:52Z | 23.405 TiB | RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json |
+-----------------------------------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| host/RawMedia/2026-06-30T05:41:24Z | 23.408 TiB | RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json |
+=========================================+=============+====================================================+

Remote PBS:
#proxmox-backup-client snapshot list -ns 'Loc1/Fileserver'

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ snapshot │ size │ files │
╞═════════════════════════════════════════╪═════════════╪════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡
│ host/IT/2026-06-09T07:59:36Z │ 237.75 GiB │ IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ host/IT/2026-06-22T06:11:48Z │ 237.922 GiB │ IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ host/IT/2026-06-30T05:44:23Z │ 237.933 GiB │ IT.mpxar IT.ppxar index.json │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ host/RawMedia/2026-06-22T06:08:52Z │ 23.405 TiB │ RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ host/RawMedia/2026-06-30T05:41:24Z │ 23.408 TiB │ RawMedia.mpxar RawMedia.ppxar index.json │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Package Versions (both hosts the same)

proxmox-backup: 4.2.0 (running kernel: 7.0.2-6-pve)
proxmox-backup-server: 4.2.2-1 (running version: 4.2.2)
proxmox-kernel-helper: 9.2.0
proxmox-kernel-7.0: 7.0.12-1
proxmox-kernel-7.0.12-1-pve-signed: 7.0.12-1
proxmox-kernel-7.0.6-2-pve-signed: 7.0.6-2
proxmox-kernel-7.0.2-6-pve-signed: 7.0.2-6
proxmox-kernel-7.0.2-4-pve-signed: 7.0.2-4
proxmox-kernel-7.0.0-3-pve-signed: 7.0.0-3
proxmox-kernel-6.17: 6.17.13-13
proxmox-kernel-6.17.13-13-pve-signed: 6.17.13-13
proxmox-kernel-6.17.13-11-pve-signed: 6.17.13-11
proxmox-kernel-6.17.13-9-pve-signed: 6.17.13-9
proxmox-kernel-6.17.2-1-pve-signed: 6.17.2-1
ifupdown2: 3.3.0-1+pmx12
libjs-extjs: 7.0.0-5
proxmox-backup-docs: 4.2.2-1
proxmox-backup-client: 4.2.2-1
proxmox-mail-forward: 1.0.3
proxmox-mini-journalreader: 1.6
proxmox-offline-mirror-helper: 0.7.4
proxmox-widget-toolkit: 5.2.5
pve-xtermjs: 6.0.0-1
smartmontools: 7.5-pve2
zfsutils-linux: 2.4.2-pve1

 

[Chris]

You could perform the full sync to a different namespace first, then use the move feature introduced in PBS 4.2 to merge contents. See https://pbs.proxmox.com/docs/storage.html#storage-move-namespaces-groups

Edit: fixed link

 

[Onslow]

@Chris Haven't you meant other URL than 172....

 

[Chris]

@Chris Haven't you meant other URL than 172....

Fixed this up now, thanks for the pointer!

 

[the_MiCrO]

That worked
Thx

But is that behaviour the way it's supposed to work?

As 'User' I'd expect the that this includes 'older' backups as well ....

 

[Chris]

Yes, this is intentional behavior. A compromised remote should never be able to insert older backup snapshots on the sync target.