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I see lots of solutions here, but some explanation of the basics are missing for someone starting out… this is not meant to sound preachy…

RAID is not a backup. It’s just better hardware fault tolerance. Delete does the same thing on RAID as it does one 1 drive.

Everyone syncs / copies / duplicates files somewhere, but you need a way of finding the previous backup in case something was deleted. This can be done with various ways / tech, but the point is - have some history not just 1 copy. Many pointers to 3-2-1 in here, but that also doesn’t mean 3 copies of just today’s data…

Backups are nothing without Restores. Test the backups. Various ways, but do it. Often.

And consider what you’re backing up and why… ie just your data? (Ie photos), or all the config files, databases, operating systems, etc to do a full restore on new metal. If the latter, I recommend keeping your data separate from the OS / config files, etc.

Source: decades of tech disasters 😁

I do local backups to another drive, and online encrypted backups to cloud storage (I use backblaze B2)

Basically:

• Small proxmox node (Zima) that basically does only operate a Proxmox Backup Server for local clients and fast backup.

• Offsite ZFS send to a VPS I operate for that purpose. As well as Proxmox Backup Server for VMs,etc. Basically meant as a fast recovery option.

• Offsite S3 storage backup to a different provider from above. Meant for a medium term backup.

• Portable HD: I have two different portable HDs. One is hooked up to the Backup server, the other one is in a lock box in my banks safe. The “connected one” does a weekly backup (and is switched off in between). Once in a while (around 6 to 12 weeks, with 12 weeks being the hard maximum) I take the active one to the bank and both drives switch places. That provides a full backup.

• Last line of defence: The real real important things (photos of life events-weddings,etc.- important documents,Password DBs) etc.) get burned on a M-disc Archive blue ray. They are also in the bank safe and at a secure third location. They are more meant for “shit hit the fan and I might not be there anymore,but maybe the kids want these”.

This is another thing to consider: Have detailed descriptions for others how to retrieve your data in case something happens.

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Once had problems with an internal drive so each device I run uses an external SSD/HDD. Anything important that has an “export data” or backup option such as Paperless I’ll export/backup & put that into Nextcloud. Nextcloud files are synced between multiple desktops, one of which then gets automatically backed up to a separate drive each week.

For all my other self host stuff I since deployed Kopia to perform nightly local backups of each thing I self host. Once per month a Kopia backup for each software gets moved to a separate drive.

On top of that, things I deem as particularly important get encrypted in Cryptomator & uploaded off site.

No doubt there’s probably better/easier ways but thats my current workflow.

I have three backups. One is my laptop where all the backups initially start. Then that gets copied to a plugin USB SSD. Then another copy goes to my server which has another USB SSD. That means I don’t have an off site backup.

I don’t have a place to host an off site backup and I’m not comfortable or interested in using cloud services. Instead I just decided that if it all goes up in flames. So be it.

It’s just data and backups are just nice a convenience. I’ll be upset but there’s more important things in life to worry about.

I’ve always lived a life of minimalism and to me stuff is stuff. None of it mattered before I was born and none of it will matter after I die. That happiest and most free feeling I ever experienced was when I spent years travelling with only a 34 litre backpack and that’s kind of been my baseline for happiness ever since.

I want to start by saying I am not suggesting you use any of the products these companies offer, but I’m linking to the standard strategy - 3-2-1.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-3-2-1-backup-strategy/

https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/backup-rule/

https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatabackup/definition/3-2-1-Backup-Strategy

• 3 copies (original and two backups)
• 2 forms of media
• 1 copy off site.

For me, I have two boxes for NAS. One is the prod, one is the backup of anything I can’t replace (or can’t replace easily). I have another at the home of a member of my family, which gets a weekly diff. I also backup an encrypted set to cloud storage I got some time ago. So I actually have 4 sets of data (1 prod + 3 backups), two off-site locations. The media portion is treated differently today - it used to be tape, DVD backups, whatever, but today I consider different devices and cloud storage to fit that bill. In which case I have an abundance of forms of storage media

Mine goes a slight bit past what’s needed for 3-2-1 which is appropriate for me. I consider 3-2-1 the minimum for any data considered critical or irreplaceable.

For me, that includes home movies, family photos, financial records, etc. It does not include my rips of my DVD collection. It does include config files and backups of services I run though.

The right backup strategy depends on your own concern about data. If I lost the photos/videos of my kids, I’d be devastated. If I lost the rips of VHS tapes my dad recorded, I’d be devastated.

If I lost the iso for a random esoteric piece of hardware that has its drivers, I’d be disappointed but its not a big deal.

Prioritize your data. Absolutely critical, important, preferred to keep, annoying but replaceable, and who cares I’ll just download it again if I have to.

Once you know how much you need to store for each of those, add a bit to plan ahead, and see what backup strategy fits as you move down the priority list, and go from there.

3-2-1 never let me down since more than two decades. I just bought an external nextcloud host. And everyone of these 3 backups was destroyed in the past and I was glad to have them in another backup. Fire at the external server host. Fire at home and a HDD failure. But not at the same time.

Your garage is not remote. Remote means somewhere it won’t be affected in case of theft, fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, that sort of thing.

I have Proxmox Backup Server backing up to an external drive nightly, and then about every 2 or 3 weeks also backup to a cold storage which I store offsite. (this is bad practice I know but I have enough redundancies in place of personal data that I’m ok with it).

For critical info like my personal data I have a sync-thing that is syncing to 3 devices, so for personal info I have roughly 4 copies(across different devices) + the PBS + potentially dated offsite.

I copy my data to a nas at home. That copies once a day to an off-site nas. Once in a while I connect an external disk to the nas and copy all and disconnect it.

Perfect or not, compliant with backup procedures or not … it works for me and i’m happy having with an air gap backup.

Nextcloud (later Opencloud) and Immich as primary data sources, backup to:

• server itself, on mirrored drives
• NAS
• 2 external drives periodically (1-2x per week)
• off site cloud data storage

This worked and works well for me.

My friend who lives a thousand miles away swaps hard drives with me that are backups of critical stuff. He keeps my data, I keep his. As others have said your garage is a start but you really want some sort of geographically separate backup.