Vaultwarden backup and restore: the 250 KB file that restores an empty vault
A drilled restore on Vaultwarden 2025.6.0: a 249,856-byte db.sqlite3 restored zero users, because 1.2 MiB of the database was in the -wal file.
Backups
Immich backup to an external drive, properly
Dump the database, restic the upload folder onto an ext4 USB disk, then restore both halves. Timings and the unplug test.
The self-hosted backup stack that actually restores
Database dumps, restic, weekly read-verification and a drill that proves 20,000 rows survive. Commands and timings from a real run.