How To Backup Obsidian - Best Options // EP3 Mastering Obsidian
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:18 - Cloud Sync VS Real Backups
03:08 - All Apple Workflow
04:03 - All Windows/Android Workflow
04:55 - Mixed Workflow
05:55 - Best Backup Solution
Using Git as a Sync/Backup solution - • Obsidian: Sync Your Va...
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I just discovered Obsidian two days ago and have been watching videos on it since. Yours are the first ones that had actual value.
Thanks David! Really appreciate that :)
You should check out Nicole van der Hoeven's channel too -- she's got a bunch of great stuff!
True
Definitely agree, Sergio's series is well planned out and it shows. He instinctively knows in earlier videos what not to cover though he does briefly mention those subjects.
This. All the other videos are just filler fluffpieces made by people give off serious cultist vibes.
*Yikes*
Loving the series. But this episode was incredible! So clear and for non-techsavvy as well. It will help me with more than Obsidian. Thank you Sergio!
Super glad to hear this and that I was able to help! Have a great one :)
I just started using Obsidian simply because I lost a week's worth of revisions by relying on a cloud-based app that was proprietary so it couldn't easily be backed up elsewhere. I was interested in Obsidian for a while but couldn't be bothered to learn something new, but the sting of what happened pushed me to it and I'm loving it so far. I also use iCloud for syncing purposes but I'm reassured to have ample backups now too.
Welcome aboard! Hope these videos get you settled in nicely!
great videos man. i started using obsidian about a month ago but i was using it like any other note taking app with a folder structure. your videos are so great for learning how to actually take advantage of all the features obsidian has to offer.
Thanks Anthony, glad they're helping :)
This is one of very few videos that make it clear that cloud storage is *not* a backup....so many of my customers think it is! really enjoying your videos - concise, precise and good lighting ang sound. Great job!... Oh, and you converted me to Obsidian :-)
Hi Tim, very true! It’s a potentially fatal mistake. Thanks for the kind words! Glad you’re on board :)
I think the most important aspect of Obsidian Sync is that it‘s end-to-end encrypted, meaning literally only you have access to the data, since it’s encrypted and decrypted on your clients, while on all cloud services you mentioned the data is on some company’s server, in full text (or possibly encrypted, but the company having the encryption key). I personally value privacy and security a lot, that‘s why I try to use services that encrypt data client side by default. So that‘s the reason for me to consider investing that money. And to be fair, it‘s not that expensive. Lots of other note taking apps and services charge almost similar costs, and mostly without being end-to-end encrypted at all.
Completely in agreement. I use my NAS and upload an encrypted version to my cloud provider monthly for a secondary backup. Assuming you don't have a NAS and don't want to tinker with git then paying for obsidian sync as a great QoL improvement while supporting the developers.
@@FromSergioI totally agree with all that you’ve said.
Sergio, great content in this and your other videos. Keep up the great work.
Hi Greg. My bad just saw this. I really appreciate that. Ep 5 coming in this weekend :)
For a backup solution for all of my other things, I have several external SSDs. I have a primary one and use FreeFileSync to mirror the primary to the others, so that when a drive fails, I have multiple, disconnected, backups. I can see this method fitting in very nicely with just backing up everything else.
fantastics tutorials man. I did the ep 1 and 2 , now im ready to continue :D
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed them. Took the week off but uploading a more relaxed one about themes this Wednesday :)
When talking about physical backups to flash drives or another computer, remember to take failure modes into account when determining where to store things: it does no good to stick the flash drive in a desk drawer when your house burns down (somewhere in your parents house or a safe deposit box might be more appropriate).
Oh absolutely. As someone who is obsessively cautious with backups I take a lot more precautions than most which is also why I have a NAS as I mention at the end of the video. That NAS then backs up to an offsite NAS over at my parents. Truly unnecessary but I feel a lot better doing so!
This video series is really helpful. I will say that your suggestion to use Obsidian sync is very good. I have been very happy with it, and I am able to move seamlessly between three PCs, a Mac, two iPads, and my iPhone. And I do like that the revenue may, in some way, help fund the continued development of obsidian
My thoughts as well :)
Struggling to get iCloud to play nicely, sync seems to be hung. I do though, now have an offline copy of my vault. Thanks again Sergio!
This is the only video I'll be skipping as I've decided to host my stuff in GitHub. I haven't checked yet but I probably won't have access to my files in my iPhone but I hate typing and planning from an iPhone anyway. Thanks for the efforts you put into these videos, learning a lot!
Skip away :) GitHub is a great choice I simply didn't include it as someone else did a video on it, so I just linked to his video instead! Enjoy the series!
can anyone explain what exactly gets backed up when one takes the vault folder and used it on a new system? how will linked notes and plug in data be handled?
3:43 What if I installed Obsidian on my Mac and created an Obsidian folder in my iCloud Drive? It's the same place that the iPad one would make it.. Is it safe? Will iOS app use that folder or will it blow it away trying to make a folder of its own?
You addressed JUST the issue i was looking for -- syncing AND backing up. I may have an additional way to do it. I use all Apple products. So I am using the icloud sync. I am then, syncing the Obsidian vault folder that is inside iCloud with my google drive. Now I have my vault syncing in real time on two different cloud services (syncing and backup). And because i always expect the worst, i will back up somewhere off-cloud. thoughts on this method? (i am terrible with tech so I could be missing something.). Thanks
The problem with that is that the syncing system must be copy only, otherwise the file deleted on icloud will also be deleted on your drive. you would need a more advanced software such as rsync or syncthing to make use of copy only features. An easier solution would be to simply copy and paste it from your icloud into google drive every now and then since it only takes a couple of seconds. I'm like you and always expect the worst (at least we're always prepared) so I also have it syncing (copy only) to my NAS.
Very good video. Also if you are student of university or whatever similar , there is a way to get discount on Obsidian Sync from 8$ to 6$ . But you need to have educational organizational email. Obsidian Sync most reliable way for data to sync. Thank you for great video.
Absolutely, thanks for sharing :)
I use icloud for cloud sync across devices, use google drive's free 15gb storage for regular weekly backups. And use hardware storage for monthly backups. Just need to set a reminder and copy paste for gdrive and external drive backups.
Solid plan. As long as you stay consistent, you should have nothing to worry about. :)
How would one setup a sync and a hard backup? like sync 2 devices through obsidian sync and then manually store a backup of the vault in google drive/other?
There are ways to do it automatically but they require some tinkering with tools like syncthing. Alternatively you can simply copy and paste your vault into google drive/other every other week for extra peace of mind :)
Thank you so much !!!
Thanks great lesson🎉🎉🎉
Hi Sergio, great video! If im using mostly icloud as my sync option, and git hub as my backup (as I dont really fancy the practice of copying every month). Do u think it works? Thankss
Hi, II answered this comment yesterday but it seems as though it didn't go through.. Yeah it definitely works so long as everything is setup correctly on github, you can easily check this by seeing if changes to your vault get committed to your github instance. Assuming they are configured properly you're good. :)
hi Sergio, I’ve downloaded Obsidian on my imac last month and would like to back it up on icloud. I dont see an Obsidian file in Finder but only an Obsidian 0.14.5 universal.dmg and ofcourse my Obsidian vault. Do i have to download again an Obsidian for icloud app?
Hi there, you would need to move your vault's root folder (the folder where your vault lives) into the icloud folder. If you can't find your root folder open up obsidian -> open another vault (bottom left of the screen on the side panel) and see the exactly where your vault is located. Let me know if that worked!
New Subscribed right now🎉🎉🎉
Great video - so if I understand this correctly (excuse my ignorance!), the Obsidian Sync solution simply syncs right i.e. my data is not stored on an Obsidian server, but it simply pushes my data from one app to another where I decide to log in, but the data is physically stored on my devices only?
Thanks! Obsidian encrypts your data as it syncs across your devices. Obsidian states on their website that "notes live *primarily* in your disk". How I interpret this is that they do store your data in their servers encrypted. If your goal is 100% privacy then you would need to self host a solution such as a Nextcloud instance or syncthing.
Hey Sergio, thanks very much for alle your video insights What software do you se to synch with your NAS? Cheers Roland
Hi Roland, I use Synology Drive! If I didn't have a synology but another NAS I would probably use syncthing :)
How did you setup your symbology NAS to work with Obidian; folder sync of your Obsidian vault?
I used synology drive and the key thing to do is in the synology drive settings -> sync rules make sure to toggle on " Sync files and folders with the prefix"." "
Hi Sergio, what app on the Synology DS do you use please for realtime backup?
I use synology drive for real time and hyper backup overnight
Top drawer Segio! Followed your instructions but no syncing is happening between Mac OS App and iPhone and iPad? Any ideas?
Thanks! Is your vault on iCloud? If so, were you able to replicate the steps I went over on the icloud section of the video?
When saving my obsidian notes on my physical drive should I just replace the copy I had on there with the new one or should I save every new iterations.?
Hi Edgar, Depends on your own personal need, I don’t know how important those are for you. It also matters how often you backup. If you do it daily then I would just keep at most 2 versions. :)
Hi Sergio. Thanks for these informative videos. Your presentations are at the right pace.
I had a question: I am a recent emigré from Evernote, and have set up Obsidian on my Macbook running macOS 12.1. I have my Obsidian-Vault on iCloud. It all works fine from my Macbook. My question is: How do I get my iPad (os 15.3) to access that same vault that my Macbook uses? On my iPad, I have Obsidian v1.0.5
Hi Michael, thanks for that, appreciated. Once your vault is on icloud your ipad(assuming icloud is turned on) will automatically pick it up. I go over it on minute 3:30 of this video :) let me know if it worked!
Its far too early for this as Ep3 in the series, but I loved 1&2 so far :D
Great job!...
Glad you liked it! Have a great one :)
So I'm confused. First I'm on Android using regular Dropbox. I moved my obsidian folder into my Dropbox. However, when I'm on the obsidian app it doesn't give me my dropbox as an option to chose that folder for my notes. It only gives me the option for what's on my phone so Dropbox isn't an option. Am I doing something wrong? I want it to auto sync.
Confusingly, the actual Dropbox Android app isn't helpful for this scenario since it doesn't sync all of your files to your phone (at least not in the free version - I'm not sure about paid versions). What you need instead is the DropSync app (or similar). It's a free app that keeps a folder you pick on your phone in sync with a folder in your Dropbox account. So you can create a folder that Obsidian can access, and then tell DropSync to keep that folder in sync with wherever you put your vault within Dropbox.
Hope you make more videos about NAS.
I made one only, but I do intend to make a few more. It's just that I'm not sure if there's a lot of interest in that type of content!
Great video! If I already use a main Google drive account on all my devices and want to put my Obsidian vault in it, do I need another sync option, or this alone will be enough? That's the only thing keeping me from trying out Obsidian. I can't pay for Obsidian Sync and I don't trust / find too complicated the other options out there. And a note taking app that can't be synced is useless for me.
I always recommend having your vault in at least 2 locations, preferably 3! If you're using google drive, consider doing periodic vault uploads to another cloud provider or locally offline via external storage of any kind.
Thank you
Hey Sergio! Great videos, thank you for all of them. I'm about to migrate into obsidian ecosystem and your videos are so helpfull!
It happen to be that I have a 920+ too, I was wondering if you can tell me the methods and routines you use (7:50).
I will explore to git-ing the vault as well.
thanks! In our case of being synology users you can use synology drive and map it to your computer. There are many tutorials on this but i recommend @wundertech here on youtube. It's very straightforward. Once you have synology drive mapped all you need to do is place your vault in there. This will act as a replacement to icloud/google drive. But this is not a full backup. Once that's done make sure to either periodically copy and paste your vault that lives on the synology drive to a folder inside the synology or (this is what I do): use hyperbackup to automatically backup your synology drive content to wherever you wish. If you do this you'll end up with a robust backup system. Your vault will live locally and synced to synology drive which will then have backups that can be as frequent as you want them to be, to a location of your choosing. Hope this helps
@@FromSergio Sergio, brilliant. My question would be: how do you access you stuff on the iPhone when you have a sync with Synology drive? or do you sync iCloud to Drive?
@@mistermire I don't use Obsidian on anything apart from laptop or desktop!
Videos like this REALLY annoy me.....
as they prove to me how crap I am with computers lol. Ive been sharing files between Mac and MacBook using a T7 periodically, iCloud is such a simple easy solution and it annoys me why I didn't give it a thought. Probably as I initially wanted the files directly on my devices, but this is perfect. Thank you
You can't be that bad if you use obsidian ;) Glad it helped!
Thanks for the video, Sergio! It really helped me. I'll use Pcloud btw. Have you heard about it? It has versioning too!
Sure I know! They provide a great service and I actually use them as an off site backup from my NAS :)
How do you save your vault into Google drive from your android phone? It doesn’t seem to be an option for me even though I've got drive downloaded. Would I need to save it on a computer?
I'm not 100% sure if you can do it on android but normally you would add your vault source files (where your vault lives) into your google drive. This is probably easier to do on a PC unless your vault only lives on your phone. In which case you'd need to find the equivalent of what "files" is on iOS -> locate your vault and simply copy and paste it to your google drive. Upon doing that go back to obsidian and "open vault" with your google drive location. Hope this helps!
@@FromSergio thanks for the help. Managed to get it using Google drive sync. Now I just need to workout my whole note taking system then transfer notes from notion 😂.
Excellent video Sergio! I also have Synology, but am not seeing how to select an iCloud drive with CloudStation which is what I'm assuming you're syncing with. If this is how you're doing it, have you experienced any syncing conflicts between iCloud and CloudStation?
Hi Lonny, i use synology drive. I was under the impression cloud station had been discontinued for a few years now?
@@FromSergio ha ha you're right... I've updated now, but still not seeing a way to add an iCloud drive to the sync. Seems like maybe you have another service running that is moving it to a sync folder? Obsidian seems to only allow the vault to live under iCloud when you have it available on mobile and desktop. So this is only an issue if you also have your vault on your phone. Is there another way you're handling this?
I've just started using Obsidian and I had a question about backing up my files in case my computer (which happens to be getting a bit old) goes completely out. I've got the Google Drive app, which allows me to have a folder on my desktop that directly links to my Drive. When I created my current Obsidian Vault, I stored it within the folder so that it takes up little to no space on my device directly and continually updates the files as I edit them. I wanted to know if this was a safe way of going about it in terms of keeping a backup. Were my computer to die completely and I lose anything locally stored on it, would that affect my Drive files?
If so, I assume the simplest way to prevent that would be to simply copy the drive file a second time so that I have a version that doesn't update real-time, but is disconnected from the app locally stored on my computer. Just wanted to make sure that if my computer were to brick unexpectedly on me, that I'd at least have access to the files still. Thanks!!
Hey there, you're right, if your computer were to unexpectedly die, your files would be fine. And you're also right about the second part. Simply having them on Gdrive is better than nothing but is not exactly a robust backup, having a periodic copy into somewhere else would go a long way :)
Thank you! I'll definitely make sure to keep a backup!
Great info. But are there any secured apps/ways that can sync Windows and Android?
Obsidian sync is probably the best option if you want to go the paid route. If not, something like Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. Will get the job done. As for secure - they're as secure as your account is!
Hello, I recently encountered a disaster in using Obsidian: it erased my content of one very important file. First and foremost: I didn’t get to know this UNTILL I opened the page and noticed this by myself (the md file is still here but all the content is gone). I agree with you the point that SYNC isn’t the solution. What I need is backup.
I am still searching the solution to this issue: HOW CAN I GET TO KNOW when Obsidian erased me my content for whatever technical bugs or reasons!. Would like to know, after backup, what can I do so that I can achieve this purpose? Do you have any idea what I should do after backup?
Write a python script to track the change? Highly appreciated!
Did you find out what happened? I'm reading warnings about relying on third party syncing (icloud, dropbox, etc.) as they can compete with obsidian, in a sense that if you have it open on one machine, and it triggers a sync, it could overwrite the file on another machine without your intention.
I use Dropbox and a Python script that does the backing up to an external hard drive. When I switch my computer on, the script is called (autostart).
Also works but wanted to keep it as simple as possible :)
i just put my vault in a git private repository for now...the NAS option is very appealing for a future investment in security
Just made a video on my NAS a few weeks ago :)
did u do it via obsidian git plugin or manually :)
Google also have a proper backup solution that is built into Google Drive. You can choose the folders to backup rather than sync
Thanks for a video. Is having the vault on a cloud provider safe?
It's as safe as your cloud provider and account are!
The link you posted does not open?
Fixed! Must've had a typo, thanks for pointing it out :)
Bedankt
Thank you so much :) That's very kind of you!
i absolutely would NOT depend on a USB flash drive for a backup. Especially if it's a cheapo. They are a) very prone to failure, and b) very easy to lose or misplace. As a redundant backup location, sure, but not as primary. For that I'd use a quality name brand external HDD (WD, Seagate, etc). A good plan is 1) cloud, 2) external HDD, and 3) another external HDD, or flash drive. The cloud syncs continuously. Backup to primary HDD at least weekly, and 3rd location monthly.
Can you give maybe 3 bullet points why Obsidian vs Craft? Thank you
Craft is a bigger competitor to Notion and such. Not so much Obsidian. Obsidian competes primarily with Roam Research, Logseq and such. Which I'll be making a full comparison video in these series. Craft and Obsidian serve different purposes. As a personal knowledge management system obsidian is far superior in my opinion. Check out the first half of the first episode in these series titled why you need to learn obsidian, it gives a few pointers of why I believe it to be the superior platform for knowledge management. Hope this helps!
@@FromSergio Thank you very much for the detailed explanation 👍
Google Drive needs an app to sync in the background. It's sad that the best option for size has silly sync options. With the DriveSync app, the best I can choose is every five minutes.
It's nice on the desktop that it syncs whenever a file changes.
What other options are there, besides paying the way overpriced option of Obsidian Sync?
I have two MacBooks and an Android.
I'm almost wondering if I shouldn't go with iCloud and if I could get a better experience of syncing on my ANDROID phone with Apple's iCloud service.
It's just that I have so much more space available on Google Drive.
I wold like a free option, if possible.
NAS gang 🤘
I use linux so none of this was useful 🤣
That's okay though, I already have my solution
Life wouldn't be as good without it :)
For me, the iCloud sync was not as smooth as the obsidian sync solution. I always had to wait with iCloud till I could use Obsidian with my iPhone or iPad but with Obsidian sync it's almost instant
Oh yeah it's the superior solution if you can afford it!
I thought of using git, I use it for similar stuff. I was thinking in the beginning how didn't he mention git and github yet.
The possibility of loosing all my digital data triggers an OCD mode in me that makes me want to put it in 10 different drives and 5 cloud services and check 1000 times that everything is OK. I'd rather have a finger choped off without anesthesia than loosing the result of years of working and studying contained in my PC.
Basically this video in a nutshell guys: Don't rely on sync. Copy Paste physically somewhere else to ensure it gets there on your cloud pr wherever you are storing your notes
"If you have an android phone and tablet and a windows machine, the good news is that you have a lot more options [than Apple]." Hahaha doesn't matter the topic, this is always true.
Humm, I do something completely different that doesn't rely on a cloud provider, yet still provides versioning.
As far as raw backups go: I'm already backing up my PCs, so the Obsidian vault goes along for the ride.
As far as syncing goes: I use Syncthing. Syncthing connects to other devices you own so you essentially have a "personal cloud" of the devices you own. No cloud provider is used at all. It can occasionally use a relay server if it can't establish a direct connection, but the traffic is encrypted so the data should remain secure. Relaying is optional if you don't even want to trust the relays.
Syncthing is available for pretty much everything, from Windows to Linux to MacOS to Android. The one exception appears to be iPhones - but that's understandable as iOS doesn't really support different apps (such as Syncthing and Obsidian) sharing folders.
In my case, I sync all of my PCs, my smart phone, an nVidia shield TV (very handy so I can turn my PCs off and still have sync available 24/7) - and a server that my brother runs for an offsite backup.
Syncthing *does* support versioning - which, being a developer, is pretty fundamental to what I do on a daily basis anyways. Maybe a tad less useful on notes, but if something goes awry I can always roll back the changes.
Hi there, I use syncthing as well in my docker host. Great piece of software. If I didn't own a synology NAS all my backups would be made on syncthing as well. But I prefer synology's hyperbackup feature for versioning :)
Ugh, I just lost a note as I was typing it on my Android phone because of the sync app having an issue. And of course it wasn't in Google Drive yet. However, there was a snapshot available in obsidian, so I lost maybe five minutes instead of 30 minutes. Obsidian was confused by the folder thinking the file was there and it wasn't, so I had to restart the app. Anyway, +1 for obsidian. -1 for Google Drive not supporting a feature it clearly should on the Android version.
I wish I didn't need some third-party app to fill in the gap.
Hmmm when I went back, the file it deleted was back, but with a conflict and date string in the name. Maybe it resolved itself over time? But when it happens it's disruptive.
My vault has 10.7 GB, I have to create a new Google account for it. I plan to put it inside an encrypted container by Veracrypt and then monthly upload it to Google Drive.
That's a big one, you must have a lot of video files!
@@FromSergio It's mostly images. I've download my tumblr blogs with TumblThree, and I can see the whole blogs in Obsidian.
Windows 11 has native iCloud integration, meaning you can sync obsidian in iCloud as seamlessly on Windows as you can on Mac. Just a heads-up for any Windows 11 users.
Thanks for sharing!
I think you’re missing one of the most important features of Obsidian Sync. Encryption. None of the others offer this feature and they’re all stored in clear text.
Absolutely right. obsidan sync is E2E encrypted. Should have mentioned that in the video. Owning a NAS myself E2E encryotion is something I take for granted when it is not easily available everywhere. Although there are services that facilitate this such as boxcryptor. Thanks for bringing this topic up!
My best solution is to make a zip file of the vault and encrypt it so even if someone has access to the file, they can't open it... plus the reduced size :)
Works very well, you could also use veraencrypt or a similar software to encrypt before sending it to the cloud :)
@@FromSergio I use Linux, I ran the zip command and add the -e flag which converts and encrypt it in single command before uploading to cloud :)
I also use git !
Thanks for sharing!
I use Backblaze, besides iCloud
Backblaze is really good. Probably the best option out there for large cloud backups! But if you don't yet have a Backblaze account and you *only* want to backup your small vault, might be a little too much!
I have backblaze but I'm not sure if it'll get around and backup the vault every day?
Whats wrong with syncthing ?
its free. open source, and can do versioning too. you can set some folders to sync, and you can set some to just be a backup that doesnt sync both ways.
It does however not sync between some server. so your systems need to be turned on for it to sync...
But it can even sync with android phones.. those are always on!
The video lacks in details. E.g. would be nice to see how you can use GDrive on Windows+Android: what apps to install, how to setup, etc.
You can sync your vault for free without using the cloud by using Syncthing.
Absolutely! I host syncthing for other tasks :)
You remind me of nuclear Nadal...
Hm that can't be good
Just keep in mind that by putting your second brain on some providers, an AI is learning a lot about you and your deep thoughts.
To get around this you can always encrypt your vault before uploading it to the cloud!
Don't do Obsidian Sync! I've lost so many files and a lot of work due to their syncing bugs. And it didn't happen just once... I can't stand it no more
Are these known issues? This is the first post I've read about anyone having an issue with it. I'm considering trying their sync.
Literally no one, not one guide tells us where our vaults are located on our PCs. Jesus.. Fucking.. Christ..
I'm here after losing months of data because I never backed it up. Don't be like me folks.
:( That really sucks!
Use Git.
on an android phone, it does not show google drive when you have obsidian open a folder for your vault. Is there a way around that?