Once the first backups have run, it’s worth taking a look at the datastore content in the PBS GUI. Here you see everything that’s backed up for you — grouped by VM, with date, size and verification status.
Opening the content browser
In the PBS GUI on the left: Datastore → <your-datastore> → Content.
You’ll see a tree structure:
└── vm (VM backups)
├── 100/ (VM ID 100)
│ ├── 2026-05-08T02:00:00Z (last night's snapshot)
│ ├── 2026-05-07T02:00:00Z
│ └── ...
├── 101/
│ └── ...
└── ct (container backups)
└── 200/
└── ...VMs (vm/) and containers (ct/) are grouped by ID. Under each ID you’ll find all snapshots — sorted chronologically, newest first.
What you see per snapshot
Click a snapshot and you’ll see the disk images it contains:
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Backup Time | Time of the backup (UTC) |
| Size | Uncompressed amount of data in the backup |
| Encrypted | Yes/No — encrypted client-side? |
| Verify State | OK / Failed / None / Outdated |
| Files | Disk images belonging to the backup |
Per disk image you’ll see:
qemu-server.conf.blob— the VM configuration (very small)drive-scsi0.img.fidx— the disk image (the actual backup, often many GB)drive-efidisk0.img.fidx— for UEFI VMs, the EFI volumeclient.log.blob— the log of the backup run
You can extract individual files or restore the whole snapshot — see single-file restore and VM restore.
Understanding the verify state
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OK | The backup has been verified and is intact. |
| Failed | Verification detected corruption — act! |
| None | The backup hasn’t been verified yet. |
| Outdated | The last verification is older than the threshold set in the options. |
If you’ve configured a verify job (strongly recommended), verification runs automatically. More on that in Backup verification.
Notes per snapshot
PBS supports notes (comments) per snapshot. Click the snapshot, then the pencil icon next to “Comment” at the top right. Useful for things like:
- “Pre-update backup before PostgreSQL 17”
- “Before migration to new server”
- “Important backup — do not prune”
A note doesn’t protect against pruning, though — notes are pure labeling. You protect important snapshots with the protected flag, see Prune explained.
Reading logs
Three places where you’ll find logs:
1. In the snapshot itself
Click the snapshot → “View Files” or “Mount” — among other things you’ll see client.log.blob. That’s the log of the backup run, written from your PVE.
2. Datastore tasks
Datastore → <your-datastore> → Summary shows the latest tasks (backups, verifications, garbage collection, sync jobs). Click a task → full log.
3. Global tasks
On the left, Administration → Tasks shows all tasks across all datastores and users. Filter by status (all / errors only / OK only), by time window, by user. For errors, this is the central place to look.
What to do when a backup is missing?
If you expect a backup to be there but can’t find one:
- Open Datacenter → Backup in PVE, check the job logs — did the job run?
- Tasks in PBS — was there a connection error?
- Network: could your PVE reach the PBS at all? Firewall rules, DNS resolution.
- PBS storage status in PVE: is the storage marked as “active”?
If the job ran but the backup doesn’t arrive in PBS, it’s usually a connection timeout during transfer. Open a ticket with the task ID and we’ll take a look.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I see how many snapshots exist per VM? Datastore → Content — the node of the VM/container shows the count in parentheses.
Can I rename or move snapshots? No. Snapshots are named by backup time; that’s immutable. But you can add notes or attach tags to the snapshot.
What do “Manifest” and “Index” mean?
PBS stores backups as so-called “chunks” (4 MB blocks). The index (.fidx file) points to the chunks, the manifest describes the whole backup. When you expand a snapshot in the GUI, you see index files — the actual chunks live in a separate pool and are shared between many snapshots.
How do I sort by size instead of time? In the content view, click the “Size” column header at the top. Helpful when you want to find out which VM uses the most storage.
Why do some snapshots show “Encrypted: Yes” and others “No”? If you enabled encryption only later, the old snapshots are unencrypted — the newer ones encrypted. See Creating encryption keys for the clean strategy.
What’s next
First login to the Proxmox Backup Server — what you see in the GUI
After ordering, the login mail arrives. Here's an overview of the most important areas of the PBS GUI — datastore, sync, tape, users, notifications.
Setting up the datastore as a backup target in Proxmox VE
Add your xaweho PBS datastore to your Proxmox VE in a few clicks — via GUI or CLI, with fingerprint and login.
Creating an encryption key for PBS and storing it safely
Enable client-side encryption with AES-256-GCM. Generate the key, store it safely and register it in the PBS storage.
Running your first backup to the PBS — step by step
A manual test backup of a single VM to check that the datastore is connected correctly and everything works.