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How should I do backups? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/selfhosted

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I have a server running Debian with 24 TB of storage. I would ideally like to back up all of it, though much of it is torrents, so only the ones with low seeders really need backed up. I know about the 321 rule but it sounds like it would be expensive. What do you do for backups? Also if anyone uses tape drives for backups I am kinda curious about that potentially for offsite backups in a safe deposit box or something.

TLDR: title.

Edit: You have mentioned borg and rsync, and while borg looks good, I want to go with rsync as it seems to be more actively maintained. I would like to also have my backups encrypted, but rsync doesn't seem to have that built in. Does anyone know what to do for encrypted backups?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It depends on the value of the data. Can you afford to replace them? Is there anything priceless on there (family photos etc)? Will the time to replace them be worth it?

If its not super critical, raid might be good enough, as long as you have some redundancy. Otherwise, categorizing your data into critical/non-critical and back it up the critical stuff first?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

RAID is not backup. Many failure sources from theft over electrical issues to water or fire can affect multiple RAID drives equally, not to mention silent data corruption or accidental deletions.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah...I've never totally lost my main storage and had to recover from backups. But on a number of occasions, I have been able to recover something that was inadvertently wiped. RAID doesn't provide that.

Also, depending upon the structure of your backup system, if someone compromises your system, they may not be able to compromise your backups.

If you need continuous uptime in the event of a drive failure, RAID is an entirely reasonable thing to have. It's just...not a replacement for backups.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Oh, all my drives are RAID too, mostly for the convenience of being able to use them while I order a replacement for a failed drive and not having to restore from backup once I get that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Its not, but if the value of the data is low, its good enough. There is no point backing up linux isos, but family photos definitely should be properly backed up according to 3-2-1.