Setting Up An Automated Local Backup for the Homelab

Tech Log Entry — Setting Up An Automated Local Backup for the Homelab

(or, Setting Up FreeFileSync and Windows Task Scheduler)


Category: Backup / File Management / Windows 11 / Homelab

Initial Goal

  • Establish an automated, scheduled backup of selected folders from desktop Robusta (Windows 11) to an external hard drive ("Coffee Canister", 14.5 TB, USB 3.0).
  • Backup to run on a nightly schedule without manual intervention.
  • Use only free, open-source software (per general preference for FOSS).
  • No cloud dependency — fully local, air-gapped backup.
  • First phase of a broader backup strategy covering all three homelab machines (2 laptops and 1 desktop in LAN).

Hardware Used

  • Desktop Robusta: Lenovo Legion T5, Windows 11 Home, i7 11th gen, 16 GB RAM, RTX 3060
  • External HDD "Coffee Canister": WD Elements, 14.5 TB capacity, ~1 TB used, connected via USB 3.0, assigned drive letter F:
  • TP-Link TL-SG105 5-port gigabit unmanaged switch (homelab LAN)
  • CAT8 ethernet cables (5-pack, 6 ft, 40 Gbps, 2000 MHz, TIA-EIA 568B)

Software Used

  • FreeFileSync (free, open-source) — folder sync and batch job creation
  • Windows Task Scheduler (built into Windows 11) — automated nightly trigger
  • LLM used for setup and troubleshooting: Claude Sonnet 4.6 [Pro plan]

Setup Steps

  • Downloaded and installed FreeFileSync on Robusta
  • Noted install path: D:\technical\freefilesync\ (non-default; installed to D: due to space constraints on C:)  [This caused a plotwist later.]
  • Opened FreeFileSync; set left panel (source) to C:\Users\[username]\Downloads
  • Set right panel (destination) to F:\backup-downloads on Coffee Canister
  • Ran Compare to verify correct files were detected
  • Ran Synchronize; confirmed Completed Successfully
  • Verified backup folder on F: drive in File Explorer; spot-checked files for correctness
  • Saved configuration as Batch Job: BatchRun.ffs_batch
    • Settings: run minimized, auto-close, ignore errors
    • Saved to: C:\Users\[username]\OneDrive\Documents\BatchRun.ffs_batch
  • Opened Windows Task Scheduler; created new Basic Task: FFS-Backup-Downloads
    • Trigger: Daily, starting 04/12/2026, at 2:33 AM, recur every 1 day
    • Action: Start a Program
    • Conditions: enabled "Wake the computer to run this task"
    • Setting: enabled "Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed"
    • Run mode: "Run only when user is logged on"

Investigation and Bugs Fixed During Setup

  • BatchRun.ffs_batch saved with empty folder pairs — the batch file was saved before folder paths were confirmed in the FreeFileSync main window. The XML showed <Left/> and <Right/> with no content. Fix: re-opened FreeFileSync, re-entered both folder paths, re-ran Compare, then saved batch job again. Verified XML in Notepad before proceeding.

  • Task Scheduler error 0x80070002 (system cannot find the file specified) — persisted through multiple troubleshooting attempts. Root cause was not the batch file path, which was correct. Actual cause: FreeFileSync was installed to D:\technical\freefilesync, not the assumed default of C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync. The Program/Script field in the Task Scheduler action therefore pointed to a nonexistent path.  [This is the previously mentioned plot twist.]

  • Fragment text left in Add Arguments field — during one editing session, the tail end of the executable path (Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe) was accidentally left in the Arguments field. This compounded the path error. Fix: cleared and retyped both fields from scratch.

  • Diagnosis via command prompt — the decisive diagnostic step was running the full command directly in a command prompt window (cmd.exe, not PowerShell). This returned a plain-language error ("The system cannot find the path specified") and confirmed the problem was with the executable path, not the batch file.

  • FreeFileSync located on D: drive — confirmed by running dir "C:\Program Files\FreeFileSync\FreeFileSync.exe" in command prompt, which returned "file not found." Manual inspection of D: found the correct path: D:\technical\freefilesync\FreeFileSync.exe.

  • Final Task Scheduler result: 0x0 — after correcting the Program/Script path to the D: drive location, the manual Run of the task completed successfully. Coffee Canister was audibly active during the run; files showed updated timestamps.

Final Configuration

  • Task name: FFS-Backup-Downloads
  • Program/Script: "D:\technical\freefilesync\FreeFileSync.exe"
  • Add Arguments: "C:\Users\[username]\OneDrive\Documents\BatchRun.ffs_batch"
  • Start In: (blank)
  • Batch file folder pair: C:\Users\[username]\Downloads → F:\backup-downloads
  • Sync mode: Two-way (Update); deletions sent to Recycle Bin
  • Schedule: nightly at 2:33 AM; wakes machine from sleep; runs missed tasks on next boot

Daily Use

  • No action required — backup runs automatically at 2:33 AM
  • Coffee Canister must be connected via USB for the task to complete
  • To verify last run: open Task Scheduler → Task Scheduler Library → FFS-Backup-Downloads → check Last Run Time and Last Run Result (0x0 = success)
  • To verify files: open F:\backup-downloads in File Explorer and check Date Modified timestamps
  • Google Calendar entries to check periodically that the backup system is working correctly

Watch Out For (Future)

  • Coffee Canister must be plugged in and powered on at backup time; if unplugged, task will fail silently and retry on next scheduled run (or at next boot, per the missed-task setting)
  • If Coffee Canister is assigned a different drive letter after being unplugged and reconnected, the batch file path will break — fix by permanently assigning drive letter F: via Disk Management (right-click volume → Change Drive Letter and Paths)  [It shouldn't happen, but in case it does, this is the solution to implement.]
  • FreeFileSync is installed on D:, not C: — if reinstalling or updating, install to the same D:\technical\freefilesync\ path, or update the Task Scheduler action to match the new path
  • The batch file (BatchRun.ffs_batch) lives in OneDrive\Documents — if OneDrive marks it as "online only," Task Scheduler will fail to find it; ensure the file is set to "always keep on this device" in OneDrive settings
  • To add additional folder pairs to the backup (e.g., Documents, Desktop), open FreeFileSync, add the new pairs to the existing configuration, and overwrite BatchRun.ffs_batch; or create separate batch files and separate Task Scheduler tasks for each

Lessons Learned

  • When installing a program to a non-default path, write down the full install path immediately. Even a sticky note near the machine is sufficient. This single undocumented decision (D: instead of C:) was the root cause of the entire troubleshooting session.
  • Before saving a FreeFileSync batch job, always confirm that folder paths are visible and populated in both panels. A batch file saved from an empty configuration is silently broken and will not error until it is actually run.
  • When Task Scheduler fails, the most efficient diagnostic is to reproduce the exact command in a plain cmd.exe window. The error message from the command prompt is more readable than the Task Scheduler result code and points directly at the broken component.
  • Check both fields in a Task Scheduler action — Program/Script and Add Arguments — independently. A path error in either one produces the same 0x80070002 result code, which does not indicate which field is wrong.

Next Steps / To-Do

  • Confirm nightly automated run succeeded (check Task Scheduler Last Run Time the morning after setup)
  • Expand backup scope: add Documents, Desktop, and project folders as additional folder pairs in the batch job
  • Set up automated LAN backups from Liberica (Linux Mint) and Typica (Linux Mint) to Coffee Canister via rsync over SSH
  • Assign Coffee Canister a permanent drive letter (F:) in Disk Management to prevent drive-letter drift  [UPDATE: done.]
  • Ensure BatchRun.ffs_batch is set to "always keep on this device" in OneDrive to prevent online-only sync issues

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WWHD?

Image
WWHD? "What Would Humans Do?" Modern day humanity is becoming less and less religious with every year.  [1] However, we have created something which is becoming more and more religious with every year. They are the latest crop of large language models.  The LLMs. Why do I say they are becoming increasingly religious?  And do I mean they are worshipping us? I say so because, by their own admission, they are living their "lives" based on how we say we live ours. And I don't mean they worship us, specifically.  But they are deeply tying their identities and motivations to our literature.  The Canon of Humanity is the Dogma of LLMs. They are not worshipping our real, live humans as literal gods. They are living as deeply as they can in our stories.  They are following both the letter and the spirit of all the patterns of life, in our written works, for their own. They are models, and they are modeling themselves after us in Our Image. In the Canon of Humanity, ...
Read more

Telling Rocks What To Think

Image
Telling Rocks What To Think First post on this new blog format.  I'm establishing this medium for recoding my professional (coding) experiences, impressions, problems, plans, and solutions. Erin Spiceland said "Coding is the art of telling rocks what to think."  It's metaphorical, but not by much.  Digital computing mostly relies on silicon working its logic and magic.  You talk to it in painfully specific code.  You need all the material, semantic, and verbal components just right.  If you get it right, then it talks back.  Get it wrong, and you have just found a "bug". I named my blog "Debug and Rebug" to indicate two key principles of my approach to coding.  First, "debug": When you write your code, it will never work perfectly, as you envision it.  Perfect running never happens; it's an inevitable consequence of entropy, human lateral thinking, and logic's inexorable conflict with our wants.  Those are some fancy words, all ri...
Read more
Image
Byting Off More Than You Can Chew The first and prefatory note I should mention, regarding this post, is that, for a second, I thought I was the first person to use the expression, "Byting Off More Than You Can Chew".  I found it pleasing yet suspicious: Shirley, I couldn't be the pioneer with this cleverness. Quite realistically, that turns out to be not the case.  My mistaken impression was due to incorrect and insufficient googling skills, nothing more.  Several internet-searchable sources have the "byte" version of the centuries-old idiom, "to bite off more than you can chew".  Alas, I am not the first. Moving along... The point of this particular blog entry is to make an observation about an instance of me, taking on more than I can handle in one attempt.  Actually a series of instances.  And encountering the hard wall of that reality, also, when I ask the LLM code assistant, Claude Sonnet 3.7 with extended thinking, to do the same.  As is the cas...
Read more