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4. PBS OS drives are broken but storage disks are intact, what to do ?

Yes, you can reinstall Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) and import the backups even if the original PBS drive is broken, as long as your backup data itself is intact on separate storage.

Here's how it works:

The backup data is independent: Your actual backup files (VMs, containers, disk images) are stored as data on the external storage location. PBS is just the management layer that organizes and indexes those backups. If PBS itself fails, the backup data remains unchanged.

Reinstalling and recovering:

  1. Install a fresh Proxmox Backup Server on new hardware or a replacement drive
  2. Point PBS to your external backup storage (the drives/NAS where your backups are actually stored)
  3. PBS will scan and re-index the backup data from that external storage
  4. You'll be able to restore your VMs and containers from those backups

Important considerations:

  • Your backups must be in a standard, accessible format (not encrypted in a way that requires the old PBS instance's keys, unless you have those keys)
  • If you used PBS encryption, you'll need the encryption password/key to restore
  • The external storage must be readable (accessible via NFS, SMB, or direct connection)
  • There may be a brief period where PBS needs to re-catalog the backups before you can restore

Bottom line: Yes, this is a viable recovery scenario. The backup data is the critical part—PBS is replaceable. Just make sure your backups are on drives that are actually safe and accessible.

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