Seeing as the system is already up and running a fresh start doesn’t seem feasible. What would you recommend as next steps? Partition the existing nvme, Clone the drive, Bigger backup device to handle the raw blocks?
I’m far more concerned with losing DATA than I am the OS boot but having backups of both is obviously ideal.
I believe the safest approach is to avoid repartitioning the live boot NVMe. It’s high risk and can easily cause downtime or data loss.
What I suggest as next steps:
Option 1 (best long-term): Move ZimaOS to a small dedicated disk (32–64GB)
Then keep the current NVMe or RAID as DATA only, and set AppData onto the DATA pool. This makes OS backups tiny and fast, and your DATA stays separated and safer.
Option 2 (do it now): Use a bigger USB backup drive
If you want to keep using dd on the current layout, you need a large backup target (often 1TB+) because dd is cloning the entire NVMe, not just the OS.
Option 3 (DATA-first): Prioritise DATA and AppData backups
Since you care more about DATA, I suggest focusing on backing up your DATA pool and AppData to another NAS/USB/cloud, because that’s what protects you from disk failure.
My recommendation: back up DATA/AppData first, then when convenient move ZimaOS onto a small boot disk so OS restore becomes quick and simple.
If it is immutable so why backup it at all? If it doesn’t chenge after installation why not just reinstall from the very beginning and get the same state? The data disk will remain
Yeah I get what you’re saying, and you’re not wrong.
In theory, you can just reinstall ZimaOS and keep your DATA, that part is true. But in reality it’s not quite the same as being back where you were.
A restore just drops you straight back into your exact setup, apps, configs, everything working, in a few minutes. No thinking.
A reinstall gives you a clean system, but then you’re rebuilding things, reconnecting apps, hoping nothing mismatches with your existing AppData.
So it’s less about “can you reinstall” and more about speed and certainty.
DATA is still the priority 100%, but having an OS backup just saves you time and headaches when something goes sideways.