Backups

[Crazyroostereye]

do you guys have any tips for someone who can't afford a complex backup system atm? :p

Depending on the Data Amount, having them in a OneDrive and Local should be sufficient. If they are too sensitive to be put in a SaaS solution (GDrive OneDrive etc) you could Encrypt them or use an External Drive or both. As long as you make reliably Copies it is sufficient.

[Kolev]

My backup routine is all over the place. I have several issues with it. I cannot automate it right now, and I have trouble doing off-site backups. I also have a MySQL database that might not be properly backed up, as you probably have to stop the database and do an export, to properly back it up.

Currently, I back up my home directory on my laptop over SSH to an external drive on my home server. My home server's whole filesystem gets backed up to that disk as well.

My external disk is 1 TB. My laptop is 150 GB. My server is 1 TB but doesn't have too much space used.

I need help.

Also, I can't afford offsite, online backups, so I'll have to make do with backing up offsite only once a week, when I can physically transfer the backup disks to another household.

More details about my backup thoughts: https://calebh.top/2025/03/15/the-plan/

[Thoughtless]

All my devices (that store data I wish to retain) runs a one way sync w/ versioning to my nas via syncthing. The NAS runs a smb raid 5(4x8TB) and a raid 1(2x24TB). Raid 5 replicates to the Raid 1 once a month. Siblings NAS across the pond is in same config. Buddy Backup 1 to 1 and 5 to 5. The raid 1 also syncs to nextcloud.

[Thoughtless]

do you guys have any tips for someone who can't afford a complex backup system atm? :p

Before covid my backup system was nothing more then a 2TB external plugged into my router and letting my router handle our "cloud". Most modern routers will allow for this. This method is insecure and is only 1 copy.

To secure it I encrypt on device with Veracrypt before uploading it to that external.

This method you have 2 copies on 2 mediums but on the same network. A proper backup is as stated earlier is 3 copies in 2 mediums with 1 off site.

THE cloud is a good place to put your off site copy and a cheap way to do that, for small but important files/documents, is to email it from one account to another. Ideally from 1 encrypted email to another within the same ecosystem OR again encrypting it yourself before sending it.

What I have now maybe over the top but this is about where I started.

EDIT: RAID is not a backup. It just gives that 1 copy more resilience.