Home Assistant Backup Guide: Protect Your Configuration

A backup should let you recover the work you would hate to repeat: device setup, dashboards, scripts, and automations. A copy on the same drive as Home Assistant cannot help much when that drive fails. Keep another copy elsewhere and know how you would retrieve it.

For a small setup, a scheduled backup to another system and a saved emergency kit are a sensible start. For a larger home, also record which radios, network services, and external applications the system depends on. The Home Assistant setup guide explains those parts.

Write down your recovery target in practical terms. Could you lose yesterday's dashboard changes? Can the household still operate lights and heating while you replace the computer? Keep physical controls usable and avoid making a single server the only way to perform an essential task.

The built-in Backup integration works across current installation types. You can create a manual backup before a change or schedule automatic backups. Apps, formerly called add-ons, are managed separately on Home Assistant OS.

1. Open Settings > System > Backups and choose Backup now, then the manual backup option.
2. Name the backup so you can identify the change it precedes. Review its selected data and destinations.
3. Save the emergency kit outside Home Assistant. It contains the key needed for encrypted backups.
4. Start the backup and check the completed result for each destination. Download a copy if you also want a manual export.

When you download a backup through Home Assistant, the file is decrypted during download. Protect that copy: configuration archives can contain passwords, tokens, and account details. Copying an encrypted archive directly from storage is different from downloading it through this interface.

Keep the emergency kit that matches the backup. A backup you can see in a cloud account is still unusable if it is encrypted and you cannot recover the key.

Use the built-in scheduler before adding another backup application. In Settings > System > Backups, configure the schedule, number of retained backups, selected data, and enabled locations. Pick a time when the destination is available. A NAS that sleeps overnight cannot receive a backup while it is unreachable.

Google Drive and OneDrive

Both have official backup-location integrations: Google Drive and OneDrive. Follow the provider's account setup, then enable the location in your automatic backup settings. Check its storage allowance and confirm a completed upload. Storage limits and account policies come from the provider.

An existing community Google Drive Backup app can still be useful for its own features. You do not need to install it to use the official Drive integration. If you already have a working schedule, review it before creating a second scheduler that fills the same storage.

A NAS or network share

On Home Assistant OS, use the documented network storage setup and select the backup usage type. Confirm share permissions and available space. A NAS elsewhere in the house protects against failure of the Home Assistant drive, but it is still in the same building.

A USB copy

For a removable copy, download the backup to your computer and copy it to an external drive. Do not assume plugging a USB drive into Home Assistant OS automatically makes it a backup destination. If you use a NAS to share an attached USB drive, it is the network share that Home Assistant connects to.

Notice failed backups

The Backup integration exposes the last successful backup, next scheduled backup, and automatic-backup events. Use those to create an alert if a backup fails or has not succeeded within your chosen window. A green schedule setting does not prove yesterday's upload finished.

The words "full backup" describe the selected Home Assistant environment, not a disk image of every system in your home. Inspect your backup's contents and keep a short inventory of anything stored elsewhere.

• Keep configuration and dashboard data, including the hidden storage files that hold many UI settings.
• On Home Assistant OS, review which apps and app data are selected. Media and shared folders can make archives much larger.
• Decide whether to include the recorder database. Losing that database can lose energy statistics as well as recent history.
• Back up external databases, separate Docker services, camera recordings, and the host's deployment configuration through their own supported methods.

Home Assistant's Recorder documentation explains its storage and disk-space needs. Reducing recorded data may make sense, but deleting history just to shrink a backup is a separate decision from saving your configuration.

Radios need a recovery plan too

Zigbee and Z-Wave recovery depends on the controller and integration. Keep the original radio when moving the host if possible. ZHA has its own network backup and migration support; Z-Wave JS has controller and network-key requirements. Replacing the host and replacing the radio are different jobs.

For a rollback on the existing system, open the backup list, select the backup, and review what you will restore. Changes made after that backup can be overwritten. Save a current copy first if there is newer work you may want to recover later.

For replacement hardware, follow the official restore procedure and the instructions for that hardware. Check capacity against the space used on the old installation. The compressed archive size is not the amount of working storage the restored system will need.

1. Install a supported Home Assistant system on the replacement host.
2. Use the backup upload or available cloud restore option during onboarding.
3. Select the backup, provide the matching key when needed, and review the components to restore.
4. Allow the restore to finish. Watch progress and logs if available; a long restore is not a reason to repeatedly cut power.
5. Sign in with the restored account, check integrations, then test devices and automations before treating the replacement as ready.

If you changed the radio, stop and follow its migration procedure before resetting devices. For Container installations, restore the surrounding services and storage as well. Home Assistant cannot recover a separate MQTT broker's configuration from an archive that never included it.

Opening a backup archive checks that some files are present. A restore test checks whether those files can become a working installation. Record which test you performed so you do not mistake one for the other.

For a spare-host or VM test, isolate the restored system from production devices and their cloud services. Allow the software downloads needed for the restore without giving restored integrations access to control the live home. Restored automations and credentials may otherwise send duplicate commands or notifications. Leave production radio adapters with the live system. An isolated test can confirm login, dashboards, configuration, and archive recovery; unavailable integrations are expected when their devices are deliberately unreachable.

For a full recovery rehearsal, arrange a maintenance window, stop the original system, and bring up the restored copy with the intended radios and network access. Test a device command, an actual automation trigger, and a backup from the restored installation. Make sure only one copy is active when you return to normal operation.

Repeat a recovery check after a major hardware change or a change to backup storage or encryption. Keep the result with your recovery notes, including what was tested and anything that still requires manual setup.

A cloud destination, a remote NAS, or a rotated encrypted drive can provide an offsite copy. Choose a route you can actually retrieve during a failure. Save the account recovery details separately from the failed Home Assistant host.

If you use Home Assistant Cloud backup storage, check the current backup size and retention limits. It is part of a paid service, while other destinations have their own account terms. A remote NAS also needs a working network path for uploads.

Backups help with recovery after equipment failure. A UPS serves a different purpose: keeping selected equipment powered briefly. For Oklahoma storm planning, see our smart home storm guide and decide how the household will operate while power or connectivity is unavailable.