Need Veeam alternative for migrating from windows to linux (4,000 views on reddit, no good answers, so seems to be popular at least)

Software & Web Applications
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I thought @LTS_Tom had mentioned at some point an alternative that was FOSS that would work. Hoping he’ll chime in.

What I need:

Full disk, incremental backup of windows (currently running on bare metal). in fact, running multiple instances of windows on bare metal. Thinking something I can run an “agent” (correct term??) of some sort on the windows bare metal, maybe some mgmt platform software on a linux vm (inside proxmox in my case), and write to a mounted share from TrueNas.

Why I need it.

Primary goal is to ofc have backups of my windows installs, since they all come from an era w/ only one m.2 on the mobo (and ofc windows doesn’t allow zfs or alternative multiple drive installs, unless the mobo itself handles RAID, etc, which mine don’t).

Equally important for ME, is that I want to move off windows, get a linux distro running on bare metal in my medical recliner where I spend my days. Then, install VMware (pardon me while I throw up) but seriously, run Workstation Pro for now w/ windows… this allows moving USB devices between the host and the vm easily (think webcams for dr appts, etc), while I’m working through learning Linux Desktop… I can still be sure not to miss virtual dr appts.

Lastly, if my medical state proves to be too much and I can’t hang w/ a new OS, guess what. I’ve got those old backups and can get windows back on baare metal if that sad sad day comes.

I will say I have a LOT, LOTS of USB devices (2 10 port hubs) so I don’t have to physically mess w/ connecting and disconnecting stuff. So, good luck linux, and ur drivers.

Side note:

If anyone has a good recommendation for a Debian based first desktop that’s not TOO overly janky/simplified, but also has good built in driver support, lmk. I’ve been running Debian on server projects, both on site, and in cloud VPS’s for a while now.

I’ve heard looooots of good AND bad about ubuntu so idk what to think of that one. seems SNAP is kinda controversial. Also the whole x vs wayland thing, idk what to think. or how that’s going to affect me. lots of things like that, that generally doesn’t bother headless / server installs is gonna be, um, “fun”.

thx ahead of time.

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I use Synology to backup my Windows system, I am not aware of any good open source tools that do full image backups of WIndows.

Just go with Ubuntu, Linux people like to argue about details that do matter, but only under certain conditions. I like other tools, but SNAP is fine.

2 Likes
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Macrium Reflect works well for Windows. There’s a free version, but it’s limited to Full and Differential backups. If you need Incremental, you would need to buy licenses. It does work well though.

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ok thank you. good to know about ubuntu.

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I don’t know if this feature is available for desktop windows, but it works great on Server.

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I agree with Tom on this! I believe the best option for you would be:

  • Buy a Synology NAS and use their backup tool;

  • Use XPenology, a Synology system implementation similar to a hackintosh, which can even run in a Proxmox VM and use your Proxmox disks for backup;

If you use XPenology, you’ll enter a gray area regarding licensing, but it’s an option you can try.

If you don’t want that, you can use Acronis or Comet Backup, which also have agents for bare-metal backup; however, these agents are charged monthly for use.

These are the options, and I hope one of them works for you.

PS: Regarding Linux, I always recommend Linux Mint for this activity! I have friends who migrated entire desktop environments to it years ago, and it works very well and is very user-friendly for Windows users.

Many of these users even take their personal PCs to the IT team to have Linux installed on their equipment after seeing that it no longer has the freezing problems that occurred previously with Windows.

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That’s another really interesting option! Setting up a TrueNAS Scale with ZFS snapshots in case of ransomware and using the Windows backup tool should work well too.

The problem with Windows Backup is that the user needs permission to the shared folder where the backup is being performed. I ended up migrating to Veeaam Agent for Windows some time ago because it does the same job, however I can use a different username and password than the users logged into the OS to mount the share for backup execution, which avoids problems with ransomware or the user deleting a file while the share is mounted.

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Just FYI, Veeam does have a free (community) version named Veeam Agent for Windows Veeam Agent for Microsoft Wndows Free . Since it’s community each install must be managed on the machine itself. Been using it for years for certain situations. Been very reliable. Just had to restore a Windows 11 box acting as a server this past weekend. They also have community agents for Linux & Mac.

They also have recently introduced a Linux Server version which runs their VB&R management platform. I have yet to look into it, but I am interested.

Lonnie