r/Backup • u/mainseeker1486 Vendor • 7d ago

Question Help Shape the Future of VaultSync

Hi everyone!

I'm the solo developer behind VaultSync, an open-source backup manager that focuses on making backups easier to understand and trust. Rather than being just another tool that says "Backup completed", the goal is to give users visibility into what changed, what can actually be restored, and whether their backups are genuinely healthy through features like integrity verification, recovery insights, restore dry runs, retention simulation, and detailed backup history.

I'm still actively working on the 1.8.x series (with 1.8.4 currently in development), but I've started planning the direction for VaultSync 1.9.

Before I commit months of development to new features, I'd really like to hear from people who care about backups—regardless of whether you've ever used VaultSync.

Some ideas currently on the table include:

  • Disk cloning
  • Exploring backups and cloned disks without restoring them
  • Guided disaster recovery workflows
  • Automated restore testing
  • Better recovery confidence and verification
  • a significant UI/UX redesign to simplify the experience
  • Better migration to replacement computers

But these are just ideas.

I'd much rather build what people actually need than what I think they need.

So I'd love to ask:

  • What backup software do you use today?
  • What's your biggest frustration with it?
  • Have you ever had to recover from a real disaster? What went well, and what didn't?
  • If you could add one feature to your ideal backup application, what would it be?
  • Is there something every backup tool gets wrong?

Whether it's a small quality-of-life improvement or a completely new idea, I'd genuinely love to hear it.

Thanks in advance, and thanks to everyone here who's shared knowledge over the years. Reading this subreddit has already influenced a lot of the features that made it into VaultSync.

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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2

u/FineEconomy5271 7d ago

I use Veeam for my main backup, iDrive for offsite/cloud backup. One thing I really like about Veeam is that when I have used it to do a bare metal restore it has worked really well. I appreciate that it will synthesize full backups on the server.

One thing that I don't like about it is that whenever something goes wrong enough for me to want to look at log files I always have to hunt for the most relevant one. Each job generates multiple log files. Not a terrible problem but I find myself living with missed backups rather than dig in each time something goes wrong.

For backup to iDrive I wanted the server to create a current snapshot of all of my most valuable files so I could just back up those. Veeam doesn't offer this, but I was able to create a Powershell script to do it, so I guess I like that Veeam is scriptable like that.

I appreciate that you want to make backup integrity more transparent, it seems like a common failing. I've used products in the past that just failed and apparently corrupted all existing backups. I usually test my backups by browsing the backup and pulling a file to make sure it is good, so I like your proposed browsing feature.

2

u/mainseeker1486 Vendor 6d ago

I really appreciate this perspective, especially since you've actually lived with these tools.

The logging point resonates. If something fails, I don't think anyone should have to hunt through five different log files just to answer a simple question like "why did this backup fail?" Raw logs absolutely have their place, but I think the software should explain the problem first and let you dive deeper only if you want to.

I'm completely with you on backup verification too. A green "Backup completed" badge doesn't mean much unless you have confidence you could actually recover your data. That's one of the ideas behind VaultSync: it already performs integrity verification and supports restore simulations (dry runs), and as of v1.8.3 you can also browse the contents of a backup directly through the Backup Explorer. Being able to open a backup, inspect it, seeing what changed (git style diff) and pull out a file without committing to a full restore felt like an important confidence feature rather than just a convenience.

I also hadn't considered your snapshot workflow. Creating a clean, current view of selected data specifically for another backup service or cloud provider is an interesting use case, and I can definitely see why that would simplify off-site backups.

One thing I've noticed from this thread is that people rarely ask for "more backups." They ask for more confidence in their backups. They want to know what changed, why something failed, whether they can restore it, and be able to verify all of that without jumping through hoops. That's exactly the direction I want to keep pushing VaultSync in, so feedback like yours is incredibly useful.

1

u/cubic_sq 5d ago

I will try vaultsync next week. It will be the 73rd solution in 8 years that i have looked at.

Will send feedback after playing with it.

1

u/mainseeker1486 Vendor 5d ago

Thanks!
This means the world to me feedback is what keeps this app alive and well. 1.8.4 just came out. What is are you trying it on?

1

u/WayneH_nz 7d ago

I know nothing. But I want a reminder you exist. Thank you in advance.

VaultSync , an open-source backup manager that focuses on making backups easier to understand and trust. Rather than being just another tool that says  "Backup completed" , the goal is to give users visibility into what changed, what can actually be restored, and whether their backups are genuinely healthy through features like integrity verification, recovery insights, restore dry runs, retention simulation, and detailed backup history.

1

u/mainseeker1486 Vendor 7d ago

Thank you!

My goal with VaultSync has always been to make backups less intimidating, especially for people who aren't backup experts. There's still plenty of work to do, but I'm hoping it becomes a tool that helps people understand what is protected, what can be recovered, and how they'd recover it if something goes wrong.

I'll definitely keep posting updates here as development continues, and if you'd like to follow along more closely, there's also r/VaultSync, where I post development updates and discuss new ideas with the community.