Files, storage and backup
The Files view is a browser over the Machine's bulk storage: /data (still labelled work in the explorer) and any mounted external disk.
- Upload with the button, or drag files onto the folder.
- Download a file, or any folder as a
.tar.gz. - Move with the move bar or by dragging a row onto a folder; rename, make folders, delete (a non-empty folder asks for the recursive confirmation).
Everything stays jailed to those roots. A chat pane rides along when the assistant is on. Admins and users can change things here; a viewer can only look.
External disks
The Disks card lists every disk the box can see. External drives can be mounted, unmounted or formatted; the boot media and the data partition refuse every operation. A mounted drive is remembered by its filesystem id and re-mounted after a reboot, shares included; unmounting from the dashboard stops that.
Backup
The Backup card mirrors /data and the boot media state onto a mounted external drive under pipeos-backup/<name>/, with a timestamp per drive. Backups are rsync mirrors: a second run copies only what changed. The Machine also keeps a weekly copy of its saved state and pipe identity under /data/backup, the last eight.
Identity backup
The Backup card also writes the box's identity: a fresh bundle of the saved state (configuration, pipe keys, SSH, users, the sealed vault), the same thing a boot restores. It lands under pipeos-backup/<name>/identity/ as pipeos.apkovl.tar.gz (the previous run kept as pipeos.apkovl.prev.tar.gz), with plain copies of the pipe keys under pipe/ and a MANIFEST. Identity only skips the mirrors and takes seconds.
Whoever holds the drive holds the keys. The bundle is plaintext by default, because a passphrase the owner forgets is a lost identity, which is worse; the vault inside is sealed regardless. A passphrase seals the whole bundle and writes no plain key copies. An ext4 drive keeps file permissions, a FAT drive cannot; the card says which it found.
To put an identity back: System → Live disk → Restore identity, or pipeos flash restore-identity <bundle>; the bundle is checked and staged for the next boot. See recovery.
$ pipeos backup /media/ext/backup1 $ pipeos backup /media/ext/backup1 --identity-only $ pipeos flash restore-identity /media/ext/backup1/pipeos-backup/corvette/identity/pipeos.apkovl.tar.gz
Network storage
The box can share folders over SMB; a share shows up like any network drive. Under Files → Network storage:
- Pick where the folder lives: the data drive or an external drive.
- Name the share and tick the accounts that may connect: an existing account with unix access (set under Users), or a share-only account created here, with no dashboard sign-in and no shell.
- Set an SMB password for each of those accounts. SMB keeps its own password store, separate from the dashboard password; it is kept in the vault.
Adding a share turns the service on; removing the last one turns it off. Connect with smb://<box>.local/<share> on a Mac or \\<box>.local\<share> on Windows, with the account name and its SMB password. There is no guest access.
If a drive carrying a share is unplugged, its shares are skipped (a grey dot) and return when it is back. A share serves exactly the folder you picked, as the box: anyone you tick can read and write everything under it. Share a subfolder rather than a whole drive when in doubt.