How to make PRIVATE backup of system

I am trying to understand how to make huge backups? For small (for example photos) i use Proton drive. But what to do with huge ones? Like videos, system (Deja Dup).

I am not so advanced to use rsync methods.

I have this kingston ssd. Is it suitable for backups?

You can go progressively yes:

  • start with what you do currently have, your SSD is enough as of right now
  • consider maybe investing into a NAS later on so that you could have more space for your files (1TB might fill up quite quickly depending on what you backup)
    • you mentioned using Proton Drive for photos, I’d recommend doing the backups yourself for everything at some point[1]
    • NAS software can also help you getting your data integrity in order so that it doesn’t corrupt over time when idle
  • you could consider a 3-2-1 backup strategy
    • meaning that you could encrypt your data locally then upload it to some Cloud somewhere so that the company would not be able to decrypt what you uploaded, yet keeping it safe on their nice servers

Finally, you could also consider some software to improve the workflow given compression, incremental saves, automated given a specific time of the day, etc etc (all depending on your technical knowledge and how passionate you are! :hugs:):

Overall, it might be hard to achieve all of it in one go, especially while having it 100% private but you can start slow, use some popular tools and aim towards a more resilient DIY solution once more comfortable. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:


  1. also, if I can maybe fix your initial message: photos and videos are huge files or at least, you will have a lot of those so these will be heavy to backup, on the opposite side if it’s a system config, it can be backup via services like Github for just configuration files ↩︎

2 Likes

Since OP said “huge backups,” I would not recommend Tarsnap, since it becomes very expensive compared to other alternatives very fast.

$256.00 per month for 1 TB storage

Backups will be incremental and can also be self-hosted, no specific need to use their service. :hugs:

How do you self-host Tarsnap?

Tarsnap is just a tool, you don’t “self-host it” directly, yet you can have your own personal cloud and use it to do your backups.
Or use the cloud service provided by the maintainers, a popular freemium model.

Oh my! How many tools! It lookso like I need to start learning CLI.

Thank you very much!

PS: For now I am trying to stay free wherever it is possible, because I am student in university (no work). So… yeah.

1 Like

If you’re broke, you can still experiment with a quick and cheap simple Rapsberry Pi + HDD wired to it. Perfect to learn how to backup things on it since you’re young and still have plenty of time to learn/tinker with things. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Also, CLI is not that scary overall. It is just not a fancy UI with rounded borders but it can achieve the same goal at the end of the day. :+1:t2:

When thinking about backups a couple of useful concepts are the “recovery point objective” and the “recovery time objective”. These are from how long ago do you want to be able to recover and how quickly do you want to be able to recover respectively.

Ask yourself “how frequently do I need to backup to be OK with loosing what has changed between backups?” and “how long am I willing to spend carrying out the recovery process to get back the data I lost?”

These questions are good for figuring out what you want from a back-up solution and can help you pick among the many tools to find something that you can use if a way that works to give you the desired answers to those questions.

Hmm. Interesting. Is there any specific guide? Better step-by-step :grin:

I know, but I am really new to this, so everything new a little bit scary :melting_face:

But it’s to to start to learn it as I see.

Everything like photos went through Curtail (compression tool for linux) and than packed into .zip so I can afford to do it manually to Proton or Mega when I need to.

I need exactly backup solution, not “neat cloud storage”. Idea to use it only when something went wrong.

So in many cases once a week (not huge, not more than 1GB). But for system at whole, I prefer making copy one a month (huge, 13GB +)

I don’t actually care. I care more about how to make it secure (lock from other, including cloud provider) and that it just works. I am ok to download it or move from drive etc manually. I need just private, secure and reliable option.

Ideally you have three layers of backups

  1. Two disks in RAID 1, storing your day-to-day use files so that if one drive fails, you lose nothing.
  2. One local backup disk that you update at least weekly, and that you do not connect to the motherboard / laptop when you’re not making / restoring backups. These protect your data from ransomware.
  3. One off-site backup either in cloud, or at your relative/buddy’s house, in case your house burns down.

For private backups, use two tools:

Veracrypt is an easy-to-use tool to encrypt an entire disk partition, or to create an encrypted container file that sits on the disk just like any file would. In both cases you can mount and make changes to the content without writing plaintext data on disk to use it. You can either upload the container to cloud (take ages), or you can just put it on extra hard drive. For off-site backups, an easier solution might be a hard drive you keep at your buddy’s house, and that you update every n days, whatever suits you both.

So how to update the files on the mounted backup? Use Unison File Synchronizer

$ sudo apt install unison-gtk

It’s really easy to use. You start by copying the directory you want backed up to the veracrypt volume. Then you configure Unison to create a state file about your day-to-day use dir and the backup dir. Unison lets you update the changes you’ve made to the backup with single press of a button. Do note that synchronizing will delete any file from backup that you’ve deleted locally. There’s a setting to prevent this but I’d have to go digging.

It’s a good idea to practice using these tools before using it. And do note that if you lose your veracrypt password, those files will be gone for good. Make sure you have at least one hard copy of the password in secret place. Also backup the Veracrypt headers from Volume Tools menu, and label the files extremely clearly so that you know which backup belongs to which drive. Those may very well save your files if something goes wrong.

There’s no trivial answers but this isn’t a trivial matter. It’s your entire digital life. You should take the time to learn to do this stuff right, even if it’s not the workflow I proposed.

2 Likes

Nothing specific, plug the HDD/SSD to your Raspberry PI and enjoy. :+1:t2:
And if there are guides about the topic, it’s part of the journey to look up for those yourself anyway. :hugs:


OP listed:

  • not having a lot of money
  • not knowing the CLI that well
  • I doubt they have a bulky desktop RIG at their uni

So not sure why suggesting all of this. :sweat_smile:

for most use cases, I don’t think that much technological complexity is needed. 2 external drives: 1 connected to your computer making daily backups with something like borg, the other in a location you trust and visit frequently (e.g a relative’s home). Whenever you visit that location, you swap drives.

This to the 3-2-1 backup principle, and doesn’t require any technological knowledge or subscription. It requires having a second location you trust though. And you might want to take into account the possibility of a natural disaster affecting both locations at the same time. If so, you might want a third drive that you keep it a location that’s further but still visit every X number of months.

And if you want to follow 3-2-1-1 for important data like photos or passwords, you can burn M-disc blu-rays and CDs where you can only append new data.

3 Likes

Yes, but i am open to learn. Everyone someday ago started from scratch :sweat_smile:

But i have good gaming laptop

If you’re really not in the mood for learning the CLI, you can also give Backrest or Kopia a shot. I’ve yet to try diving into restic, but Kopia works well on my machine.

2 Likes

CLI is overall good for plenty of reasons.
Sure you can find a GUI for 1 task but you will always be able to do more and in a more stable way on a CLI.

1 Like

I literally said that I am happy to learn something new :slightly_smiling_face:

Thnx! I will check it out!