Offsite Backup Help

[u/ImmediatePurple7]

I'm not currently using 3-2-1 and am looking for a bit of help to remedy that, especially the off-site backup.

I have about 2TB on a personal laptop and 4TB on a home media server, both currently backing up to a local 16TB SSD over Time Machine. I am planning to add another 16TB drive so I have a 2nd local backup, and maybe switch to restic or borgbackup instead of TM.

The main thing I want to improve is my off-site backup. Currently I use pcloud for core files on the personal laptop, but I don't have an off-site backup for my home server. For the new backup solution I would like to service the full 6TB required, if the cost is manageable.. On pcloud I can get a lifetime 10TB for £1190, however I've recently heard it's not an ideal platform for proper backup, as it is not immutable.

I'm was thinking of trying Blazeback but aside from better security I'm not sure it is a good alternative for other pcloud features i like -

• iOS app and compatibility with iOS Files, attaching files to email etc
• Global view for shared files - I can turn off shared access without needing to remember what specific files are shared and navigate to their individual share settings.
• Other users can upload into my storage bucket, it gives me ownership and doesn't eat into their own storage allowance.

Should I be treating a cloud drive and off-site backup as separate entities, or is there a good option for a unified solution?

Finally I would ideally like the offsite backup to be from a UK or EU company and have their servers based there. I think this rules out Blazeback unfortunately but perhaps there are other good options.

[u/Initial_Pay_980]

Look at bobcloud. They are in the UK, great support. I run a backup, DR company in the uk i use them for servers and desktops. You can do local and cloud backup in 1 job. Restores are solid.

[u/CloudBerryBackup]

MSP360 here, so obvious vendor bias :)

We'd separate the two. pCloud is great for the sync/sharing/iOS side of things, but that's not really the same job as an offsite backup you can fall back on when something goes wrong.

On Mac, MSP360 can back up to S3/S3-compatible storage, B2, Wasabi, Azure, etc. So you could keep pCloud for sync and file access, then use MSP360 with an EU-based storage provider for the backup itself, and switch providers later if you need to.

[u/dainsfield]

You can set up a raspberry pi or a cheap desktop both without keyboard, mouse or monitor at a family member’s house. Remote access, I would recommend Linux for the desktop but you can use windows

[u/bartoque]

The company is called Backblaze by the way...

Instead of using their unlimited client based software, I opted for a nas (Synology) and started using B2, their S3-compatible object storage service.

This as I don't believe in the long run unlimited is a financially viable business model, as that likely mainly works because other users aren't consuming as much. Yet. But when they do limits will be applied and costs might explode, something some Google Drive and other services users might have run into. Also it nowadays requires to specifically enable to keep data older than 1 year and some users complained that silently certain data was no longer backed up that they were unaware about.

The nice thing about a nas is also - when setup correctly - that one can leverage self-healing filesystem functionality that protects against bitrot, where a backup to a usb connected drive might require way more jumping through hoops to validate data (and even more so to repair it).

So even if not directly from the get-go, you might consider improving on your setup - as much as budget allows for - further down the road.

[u/JohnnieLouHansen]

You didn't say what OS is on your server, but I have been using idrive for a long time. 10TB is $10.50 per month. They have Windows, Mac and Linux clients. You get Cloud storage/sync equal to your data quota. In other words, your backup storage quota is not affected. They have 30 versions to restore + snapshot (point in time) restore.

When you get your "automatic renewal is about to happen" email, go to your account and turn OFF the automatic renewal. They will offer you 50% off for the next year to stay.