2025.1: Finishing backups section

source/_posts/2025-01-03-release-20251.markdown

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 layout: post
 title: "2025.1: Beta release notes"
 description: "Beta release notes for Home Assistant 2025.1"
-date: 2024-12-23 00:00:00
+date: 2025-01-03 00:00:00
 date_formatted: "January 3, 2025"
 author: Franck Nijhof
 author_twitter: frenck
@@ -69,23 +69,31 @@ Don't forget to [join our release party live stream on YouTube](https://www.yout
 
 Home Assistant 2025.1! 🥂
 
-Enjoy the (beta) release!
+Happy New Year! I and the whole team wish you and your loved ones a fantastic
+and healthy 2025! ❤️
+
+This year is starting with a bang! 
+
+Enjoy the release!
 
 ../Frenck
 
 <!--more-->
 
-- [Better backups!](#better-backups)
+- [Overhaul of the backup system](#overhaul-of-the-backup-system)
   - [Automated backups 🤖](#automated-backups-)
-  - [Encrypted backups by default 🔒](#encrypted-backups-by-default-)
+  - [Triggering an off-schedule automated backup](#triggering-an-off-schedule-automated-backup)
   - [Home Assistant Cloud backups 😎](#home-assistant-cloud-backups-)
   - [Backup locations are extendable by design 🧩](#backup-locations-are-extendable-by-design-)
+  - [Encrypted backups by default 🔒](#encrypted-backups-by-default-)
+  - [Restoring backups available to all installation methods 🤗](#restoring-backups-available-to-all-installation-methods-)
   - [Backup retention 🗑](#backup-retention-)
   - [Setting up backups for the first time 🚀](#setting-up-backups-for-the-first-time-)
+  - [Time to get serious about backups](#time-to-get-serious-about-backups)
 - [Month of "What the Heck?!"](#month-of-what-the-heck)
   - [Setting category and labels when creating automations and scripts](#setting-category-and-labels-when-creating-automations-and-scripts)
   - [Quickly navigate to a device](#quickly-navigate-to-a-device)
-- [Zooom \& Pan for charts](#zooom--pan-for-charts)
+  - [Zoom \& Pan for charts](#zoom--pan-for-charts)
   - [Controlling the default exposure of new entities to Assist](#controlling-the-default-exposure-of-new-entities-to-assist)
   - [Reordering individual devices on the energy dashboard](#reordering-individual-devices-on-the-energy-dashboard)
   - [More "What the Heck?!" improvements](#more-what-the-heck-improvements)
@@ -101,108 +109,173 @@ Enjoy the (beta) release!
 - [Backward-incompatible changes](#backward-incompatible-changes)
 - [All changes](#all-changes)
 
-## Better backups!
+## Overhaul of the backup system
 
-This release brings big updates to the backup system in Home Assistant. We have
-fully revamped the whole backup experience and added a lot of new features to
-make it easier to use, but more importantly, it will provide you with a lot
-more ease of mind when it comes to your backups.
+Let’s talk about backups. Let’s be honest: they’re one of the most important yet
+often overlooked tasks. But when disaster strikes, like a hardware failure,
+having a reliable backup can save the day. You would love to have your home back
+up and running quickly after such an event, right?
+
+While Home Assistant's previous backup system has proven to be solid
+and reliable over the years, it didn't exactly make following best
+practices—like regular backups, encryption, and off-site
+storage—easy. Many of you had to rely on custom add-ons, automations,
+or blueprints for backups to fill the gaps.
+
+**That changes with this release! 🎉**
+
+We've completely reworked the Home Assistant backup experience to help you set
+up a solid backup strategy, using best practices in just a few clicks;
+giving you a peace of mind when it comes to your backups.
+
+No worries, if you are using any custom solution for backups, they will continue
+to work today. Even with everything new, we've made sure to keep everything
+backward compatible.
 
 So, without further ado, let's dive into the new backup system!
 
 ### Automated backups 🤖
 
-Yes! You've read that title correctly! Home Assistant now has the ability to
-automatically create backups for you on a configurable frequency!
+Yes, you read that right—Home Assistant now supports automated backups!
 
-This is a major improvement for the backup system, as it will now ensure you
-always have a recent backup available, without you having to worry about it.
+Using a schedule, backups will be created on a regular basis without you having
+to lift a finger. This ensures you always have a recent backup available,
+without having to worry about it.
 
-<img class="no-shadow" alt="The new backup overview page shows you exactly when your last backup took place" src="/images/blog/2025-01/temp-backup-window.png" />
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="Screenshot showing the bew backup overview page which shows you exactly when your last backup took place" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-status.png" />
 
-When you now navigate to your backups in the setting screen, you will be
+When you navigate to your backups in the settings menu, you will be
 greeted with a new overview page that shows you exactly when your last backup
-took place, and when the next one is scheduled. Instant peace of mind!
+took place and when the next one is scheduled. Instant peace of mind!
 
-That said, if anything does go wrong while creating a backup, Home Assistant
-will raise an issue in the repair center to ensure you are aware of it.
+Automated backups are taking place at 4:45 AM. So, while everyone in your home
+is sleeping, Home Assistant makes sure your data is safe and sound. At this
+time, Home Assistant also finished internal database maintenance, ensuring your
+backup is as compact as possible.
 
-### Encrypted backups by default 🔒
+If something ever goes wrong during the automated scheduled backup process,
+Home Assistant will notify you through the repair center, ensuring you are
+aware of it and can take action.
 
-All backups are now encrypted by default. Previously, it was possible to
-optionally set a password for your backups. However, this was not enforced and
-could be skipped.
+### Triggering an off-schedule automated backup
 
-As of this release, we've prioritized the security of your backups and have
-replaced the optional password with a mandatory encryption key. This key is
-required to restore your ([AES-128] encrypted) backups, and it is essential to
-keep it safe and ensure your privacy is protected.
+Automated backups on a schedule are great, but sometimes, you might want to
+trigger a backup right now! Maybe you are about to make big changes or upgrade
+a whole bunch of things during an evening of tinkering.
 
-<img class="no-shadow" alt="The new backup overview page shows you exactly when your last backup took place" src="/images/blog/2025-01/temp-backup-encryption-key.png" />
+No worries! You can now trigger an off-schedule automated backup from the backup
+page at any time. This will immediately create a backup with the same
+configuration as your scheduled automated backups.
 
-The first time when you set up your backups, and encryption key will be
-generated for you. Make sure to store this key in a safe place, as you will
-need it to restore your backups. To make this easier, you can download the
-encryption key as an emergency kit directly when you set up your backups,
-but you can also download it at any time from the backup settings page.
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="Screenshot showing the backup now button + dialog that allows you to trigger an off-schedule backup at any time" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-backup-now.png" />
 
-[AES-128]: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
+The ability to trigger an off-schedule regular backup is excellent, as it covers
+everything you have in a single go. However, the ability to create manual
+backups also still exists. This allows you to create a very specific backup with
+the exact contents you want to have in it.
 
 ### Home Assistant Cloud backups 😎
 
 Are you a Home Assistant Cloud by Nabu Casa subscriber? Then you're in for a
-treat! You can now store your latest encrypted backup in your Home Assistant
-Cloud account storage up to 5GB!
+treat! You can now automatically store your latest, fully encrypted, backup in
+your Home Assistant Cloud account.
 
-**This feature is added to all existing and new Home Assistant Cloud
-subscribers without any additional costs! 🎁**
+**This feature provides 5GB of storage at no extra cost, offering fully
+encrypted off-site protection for your data! 🎁**
 
-<img class="no-shadow" alt="Home Assistant Cloud is now a backup target location, that is included with the Home Assistant Cloud subscription" src="/images/blog/2025-01/temp-backup-home-assistant-cloud.png" />
-
-So not only, are your backups automatically created and encrypted, but also
-automatically uploaded to an off-site location for you, ensuring you always
-have a safe backup available.
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="Home Assistant Cloud is now a backup target location, that is included with the Home Assistant Cloud subscription at no additional costs" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-home-assistant-cloud.png" />
 
 The backup can be downloaded from Home Assistant itself, but also from the
-Home Assistant Cloud account page @ Nabu Casa in case you need it.
-
-Again, make sure to keep your encryption key safe, as you will need it to
-restore your backups. The encryption key is not stored anywhere else, not even
-in Home Assistant Cloud, to ensure your privacy is protected.
+Home Assistant Cloud account page @ Nabu Casa in case you need it. This way,
+you can always access your latest backup, even in case you Home Assistant
+hardware failed completely.
 
 ### Backup locations are extendable by design 🧩
 
 So, automated backup can be backed up to your local disk to Home Assistant
 Cloud, but what if you want to store your backups somewhere else?
 
-As one expects from Home Assistant, we want to make everything as flexible as
-possible without any vendor lock-in. Therefore, the backup system is designed
-to be extendable, meaning integrations can now provide additional backup
-locations.
+Choice is an important aspect of Home Assistant; we want to make everything as
+flexible as possible without vendor lock-in. Therefore, the backup system
+is designed to be **extendable**.
 
-Right now, everything is brand new ✨ **no integrations provide this yet**, but
-we are sure we see more integrations providing backup locations in the future.
-Integration could provide a backup location to store backups on a, for example,
-a NAS, Google Drive, Backblaze B2, or any other storage provider.
+This means **integrations** can offer new storage locations—such as NAS devices,
+Google Drive, Backblaze B2, or other storage providers—in the future.
 
-Choice is an important aspect of Home Assistant, and this is how we have made
-that aspect count for the backup system as well.
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="Screenshot showing an potential example storage provider provided by an integration" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-integration-location.png" />
+
+Currently, this feature is brand new ✨, so **no** integrations offer additional
+location yet. But we are sure we see a few more integrations providing
+backup locations in the next release.
+
+This extensibility ensures you can store your backups where you want them,
+giving you the flexibility and choice to choose the storage solution you
+prefer and trust.
+
+### Encrypted backups by default 🔒
+
+With the addition of Home Assistant Cloud as an off-site backup location, and
+the potential for integrations to offer even more (off-site) backup locations,
+security has become more important than ever. Noone should be able to access
+the contents of your backups! **Ever!**
+
+That is why all backups are now encrypted by default. We have prioritized your
+backups' security and replaced the previous optional password with a mandatory
+encryption key.
+
+This key is required to restore your ([AES-128] encrypted) backups, and it is
+essential to keep it safe and ensure your privacy is protected.
+
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="The new backup overview page shows you exactly when your last backup took place" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-encryption.png" />
+
+When you set up your backups for the first time, an encryption key will be
+generated for you. Make sure to store this key in a safe place, as you will need
+it to restore your backups. To make this easier, you can download the key as
+part of an emergency kit during setup—or anytime later from the backup settings
+page. Keep it safe! 🔑
+
+[AES-128]: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
+
+### Restoring backups available to all installation methods 🤗
+
+More good news—restoring backups is now supported across
+**all installation methods!** 🎉
+
+Previously, only Home Assistant OS installations could restore backups. But
+with this release, this feature is now available for all installation methods!
+No matter how you run Home Assistant, even if you use our containers in a Docker
+environment, you can now restore your Home Assistant backups.
+
+This also means you can restore backups from local storage, Home Assistant
+Cloud, or any future backup locations added through integrations.
+
+As a matter of fact, all backup features, including everything we release today,
+will be available regardless of the installation method you are using. We want
+everyone to have a solid backup strategy.
 
 ### Backup retention 🗑
 
-Our previous backup system would just make backups, which was good, but...
-eventually you'd annoyingly run out of disk space. 😬
+Our previous backup system made solid backups, which was good, but if you didn't
+clean them up manually, eventually, you'd annoyingly run out of disk space. 😬
 
 So! Backup retention is now a thing! You can now configure how many backups you
-want to keep, and the system will automatically clean up old backups for you.
+want to keep, and Home Assistant will handle the rest.
 
-<img class="no-shadow" alt="You can now configure a retention policy for your backups, allowing Home Assistant to clean it up automatically" src="/images/blog/2025-01/temp-backup-retention.png" />
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="You can now configure a retention policy for your backups, allowing Home Assistant to clean it up automatically" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-retention.png" />
+
+This cleanup will happen automatically after each backup. If you create a backup
+manually, for whatever reason, those will remain untouched, giving you full
+control over special cases and workflows.
 
 ### Setting up backups for the first time 🚀
 
-When you navigate to the backup settings for the first time after upgrading
-to this release, you will be greeted with a new setup wizard that will guide
-you through the process of setting up your backups in the new system.
+Getting started with the new backup system is quick and easy!
+
+The first time you open the backup settings after upgrading, you will be greeted
+by a **setup wizard** that will guide you through setting up your backups
+step-by-step.
+
+<img class="no-shadow" alt="Screenshot of the our friendly wizard that will help you setting up your backups" src="/images/blog/2025-01/backups-wizard.png" />
 
 The wizard will help you set up your encryption key, configure your backup
 frequency, and set up your backup retention policy. And when it is ready, it
@@ -210,6 +283,17 @@ will immediately kick off your first backup!
 
 All set! One less thing to worry about 🎉
 
+### Time to get serious about backups
+
+We are super excited about this new backup system! As we enter the new year,
+we encourage you to get serious about your backups.
+A good New Year’s resolution, maybe? 😉
+
+So, stop what you are doing right now and set up your backups! Go ahead and set
+up that 3-2-1 backup strategy. Not sure what that is?
+
+**You can read all about it in our [Time to get serious about backups blog post](/blog/2025/01/06/time-to-get-serious-about-backups/)**
+
 ## Month of "What the Heck?!"
 
 We had the Month of "What the Heck?!" in December, and it was a blast! 🎉
@@ -258,7 +342,7 @@ keyboard.
 
 <img class="no-shadow" alt="If you press the d on your keyboard, it will pop up the Quickbar for devices." src="/images/blog/2025-01/391675502-36f624b7-786f-486b-89a6-e86bc0a5f9fc.png"/>
 
-## Zooom & Pan for charts
+### Zoom & Pan for charts
 
 KNXBroker raised the the following WTH topic: