Using SFTP as a backup location?

[Scrath1]

Hello everyone,
I want to backup my PC to a synology NAS using vorta but the NAS does not allow non-root users to log in via SSH.
For my own peace of mind I do not want to enable SSH access to this device, especially for root users.

I've seen that pika-backup supports using SFTP to create repositories and was wondering if Vorta can do the same. As far as I can tell, it uses gvfs underneath to mount the network location for the repository. I suppose I could use pika-backup instead of Vorta but I do not like its simplified UI.

Since my NAS is not always on, I cannot rely on a mounted network share to always being present and therefore need the mount to be created specifially for the backup.

[goebbe]

@Scrath1
I never used this myself. But, if you use gvfs or gio to mount a shared folder (from your NAS) via SFTP, the backup to this folder via Vorta should be equivalent to a local backup.
You could either

1. automount the backup folder when booting or
2. use a script/ command to mount the folder before creating a backup and unmount after the backup has been created. You can insert your mount/ unmount commands at Vorta>Schedule>Shell Commands> Pre-backup and Post-backup commands.

As a user, you may also use "gio" instead of gvfs to mount sftp: gio mount sftp://your-ip
To deliver the username and password to gio, you can mount the sftp folder once, via the file manager - and save the credentials "forever" in the (gnome) keyring.
On LinuxMint, for the standard user, the corresponding sftp mount can be found at: /run/user/1000/gvfs/sftp:host=you-ip
You can use gio mount -u sftp://your-ip to unmount, after the backup.

If you implement this, it would be great if you would come back to share your experience.

[Scrath1]

@goebbe
Thanks for the reply.
As I use a KDE Desktop, I am trying to avoid utilizing too much gnome stuff.

Your first suggestion unfortunately does not work for me as the NAS is not constantly on meaning the mount will fail. Typically, my PC will already be turned on when the NAS powers up.

Your second solution works with a little workaround.
As far as I am aware, it is not possible to enter pre-backup and post-backup commands before creating a repository, but to create a "local" repository you need the mountpoint to exist.

I mounted the SFTP directory once using sshfs and created my repository. Then I had to close and restart vorta because the pre and post-backup command options were greyed out and could not be modified. Not sure if this is a bug or somehow intentional.

After restarting vorta, I was able to enter the command for mounting in the pre-backup field.

sshfs -p <sftp_port> <user>@<server_address>:<server_directory> /mnt/backups/

In the Post-backup field I added the command to unmount the directory again.

fusermount -u /mnt/backups

While this works, I think it would be better if I was able to add these commands before even creating a backup repository. I believe this would streamline the process a bit. Also, the command fields not being available until restarting Vorta really confused me.

[goebbe]

@Scrath1 Thanks a lot for your reply! :-)
How do you deliver the password for the sftp connection when connection via sshfs?

The stable version of borg (Jan 2026) does not support using sftp directly. Since Vorta relies on borg, and there are many ways to mount network folders, the use of sftp is currently not fully supported in the GUI.

Note that the situation around the use of network storage is likely to improve with borg2, the next version of borg.

You correctly pointed out that the pre- and post-command in Vorta only support the creation of new backups. Other tasks are not covered by these commands and require the user to manually mount and unmount the network storage
For the use of SFTP it would certainly be easier to have a global "Whenever you do something with a repository, run the following pre- and post-commands" available in Vorta.
However, since sftp support will be part of borg2 anyway, I am afraid it's unlikely that global pre- and post-commands will be implemented in Vorta anytime soon.

[Scrath1]

@goebbe
I wasn't aware that a successor version was planned. That's nice to hear, especially the part about SFTP support.

I had previously added my SSH key to the server, so password authentication is not an issue.
I believe sshfs also supports an option for adding a password to the command, though that is obviously a bit less ideal.

[goebbe]

@Scrath1 Thanks a lot for sharing the information.
Interesting, I didn't know that sshfs (which uses sftp) can be used with the SSH-keys (and therefore without ssh password).
Can you say anything about the backup performance when using sshfs?

[goebbe]

While this works, I think it would be better if I was able to add these commands before even creating a backup repository. I believe this would streamline the process a bit. Also, the command fields not being available until restarting Vorta really confused me.

Just an idea, if you don't like mounting sshfs via the command line:
I guess you could connect to ssfs via Dolphin and bookmark the network connection. This would allow to quickly mount/ unmount the NAS, when needed, e.g. for consistency checks or for restore via Vorta.