Can I have a compressed backup of my files?

Questions
1

I need to create a backup of my files. However, I’m short on money and can’t buy an SSD or something like that. Honestly, I don’t even need much space since the backup is gonna be less than 100 gigabytes. I’m thinking of using a USB drive (yes, I’m aware that it’s not the best option), especially if I can compress my files. I haven’t found a discussion on this topic, so I have a few questions:

  1. Is it generally bad, good or neutral thing to compress files from privacy and security standpoint when it comes to backups? Does it really matter?
  2. If I encrypt a compressed archive using, for example, Cryptomator, does it increase the risk of breaking the files so they become unusable?
  3. Should I encrypt files before compressing them or after compressing them?

I’m on a beginner level of knowledge when it comes to encryption and backups. I’ve never used Cryptomator or VeraCrypt before.

2
  1. It does not matter. Most good backup solutions compress the data automatically anyway.
  2. No.
  3. Compress before. Encrypted data is for the most part random/“white noise” and not compressible.
3

Yes to all of the above. :backhand_index_pointing_up:t2: