The 45Drives Storage Wizard is a desktop application that connects your computer to one or more 45Drives servers to configure storage, schedule backups, replicate data to another site or the cloud, and restore files — without touching a command line.
Full documentation: 45Drives Storage Wizard User Guide
| Area | Capability |
|---|---|
| Server setup | Discovers 45Drives servers on the network, installs the server components over SSH, and runs the Super Simple Setup wizard (Simple or Custom path) inline in the app. |
| Bulk setup | Configure and deploy many servers at once from shared global defaults, with importable/exportable templates and optional parallel execution. |
| Local backups | Schedule folders on this computer to back up to an SMB share on your server. |
| Remote backups | Server-side scheduled tasks — Rsync file sync, ZFS incremental replication, and cloud sync — that run whether or not your computer is on. |
| Cloud accounts | Saved credentials for Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Cloud, Azure Blob, Backblaze B2, Amazon S3, Wasabi, Ceph, IDrive e2, and Storj. OAuth providers link with a browser sign-in. |
| Off-site backups | Pair two servers over an encrypted WireGuard tunnel with a 6-character code, then point any backup task at the tunnel IP. |
| Restore | Browse local backups, remote backup targets, cloud destinations, and ZFS snapshots, then restore to the server or download to this computer. |
| Snapshots | Browse, roll back, and delete ZFS snapshots, including the automatic hourly/daily/weekly snapshots that Super Simple Setup schedules on every new server. |
| Dashboard | Saved servers, storage and system health, scheduled/failed task counts, recent activity, upcoming backups, and a live topology map of your backup network. |
| Credential vault | Saved server logins stored securely on this device, with active/stale/orphaned tracking. |
| Automatic updates | The app checks for a new release shortly after startup and prompts you to download and install it. Updates can also be driven by hand from Settings → System → Updates. |
The desktop app is the front door. It installs and embeds three Cockpit modules that run on the server itself:
| Component | Runs on | Handles |
|---|---|---|
| Storage Wizard (this repo) | Your computer | Discovery, installation, local backups, dashboard, credential vault |
| Super Simple Setup | The server | ZFS pools, datasets, users, groups, Samba shares |
| Task Scheduler | The server | Remote backup tasks, snapshots, restore, cloud sync |
| WireShield | The server | Encrypted WireGuard tunnels to servers at other sites |
You never install or open these separately — the app deploys them over SSH during setup and presents them inline.
Download the installer for your platform from the release page.
- Download
45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-win-x64.exe. - Run it and follow the prompts. The installer is per-user, so no administrator password is needed to install, and you can change the install location.
- Launch from the Start Menu or the 45Drives Storage Wizard desktop shortcut.
The app runs with standard user permissions and requests elevation (UAC) only when creating scheduled tasks, mounting SMB shares, or accessing protected directories.
- Download
45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-mac-arm64.dmg(Apple Silicon) or-mac-x64.dmg(Intel). - Open the
.dmgand drag 45Drives Storage Wizard into Applications. - Launch from Launchpad or Applications. On the first run macOS may ask you to confirm — click Open.
If you plan to create local backups, grant cron Full Disk Access:
- System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access
- Click +, navigate to
/usr/sbin/cron, and click Open - Toggle it on, then restart the app.
| Distribution | File | Install command |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu / Debian | 45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-linux-amd64.deb |
sudo apt install ./45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-linux-amd64.deb |
| Rocky / RHEL / AlmaLinux / Fedora | 45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-linux-x86_64.rpm |
sudo dnf install ./45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-linux-x86_64.rpm |
| Arch / Manjaro | 45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-linux-x64.pacman |
sudo pacman -U ./45Drives-Storage-Wizard-<version>-linux-x64.pacman |
The .deb and .rpm files can also be opened directly in GNOME Software or KDE Discover. Once installed, launch from your desktop application menu or run 45drives-setup-wizard in a terminal.
Root privileges are requested only when required — creating an fstab entry for an SMB mount, installing a cron job for scheduled backups, or reading a protected folder. Subsequent tasks for the same server usually will not re-prompt.
- Rack, cable, and power on the server.
- Open the app and run the Setup Wizard. Pick your server from the discovery list — or enter its IP manually if mDNS is blocked on your network — and sign in as
root. The app installs the server components over SSH. - Choose Simple setup, name the server and its network folder, review the drive summary, and click Complete Setup. Simple setup picks the redundancy level from the drives it finds and schedules hourly/daily/weekly snapshots plus a weekly scrub for you.
- Open the Backup Manager:
- Local Backups — pick folders on this computer and a schedule. Runs from this computer, so it needs to be powered on.
- Remote Backups — connect to the server and create server-side tasks (Rsync, ZFS replication, or cloud sync). Runs on the server, independently of this computer.
- For an off-site copy, open WireShield from a backup task's VPN Tunnel button, pair the two servers with a 6-character code, and point the task at the remote tunnel IP.
- To get files back, use Restore in the Backup Manager, or Snapshots for a ZFS point-in-time recovery.
Step-by-step instructions for every screen are in the User Guide.
Full setup instructions for a new machine — prerequisites, the houston-common submodule, and release environment configuration — are in docs/DEVELOPMENT.md.
git clone git@github.com:45Drives/houston-client-manager.git
cd houston-client-manager
git submodule update --init --recursive
corepack enable && corepack prepare yarn@4.6.0 --activate
yarn install
yarn dev # run the app in development
yarn test # unit testsPackaging is driven by electron-builder.json. Release artifacts are named ${productName}-${version}-${os}-${arch}.${ext} and published to GitHub releases, which is also the source for in-app automatic updates.
For support, contact your 45Drives representative or visit 45drives.com.