Hey guys. My question is pretty much the title. It’s 2024, and this article (Offline Updates make it easier to update balena devices without the internet - balena Blog), dated 2021, describes that offline updates seem to require wiping out the user data, even data that is saved to a named volume. Then cheerfully mentions that online updates do not have this issue. My questions is, why is this the case, and is there any way to retain user data? Specifically WITHOUT asking them to go through the effort of plugging in a USB, downloading any data, then flashing the device and going in to put all their data back on the device? It sounds incredibly laborious it’s not clear to me why the offline update has to wipe out pre-existing data in the first place if it’s in a named volume.
Hello @fherder thanks for your message!
I can see that on our public roadmap some other community members are requesting features related with the Offline updates. See more here. Feel free to add your comments there please.
Actually, let me share something shared by a community member that has not been tested at balena but maybe works for your use case.
Let us know if you test this.