Not everything belongs in one place
Maybe decentralization isn’t bad after all?
Air-gapped backups are underrated
Never underestimate those portable drives
Sync is not backup. Backup is not an archive
I wish I had understood this earlier
My current hybrid model has a cloud for its convenience, making things easier to share with anyone, not on my local network. NAS is in the middle, taking up the primary storage duties of keeping my files in sync across devices, ensuring everything important is backed up, and helping me access my files swiftly. And finally, my collection of hard drives lets me keep my archives safe. //
https://www.xda-developers.com/why-i-went-hybrid-with-nas/?post=628a-45d3-94a48a0b6521#thread-posts
Tom
Well, to each their own.
Personally, I start with my personal PC: OS is on a 2 TB NVMe, with separate NVMe drives for games and software, plus an 8 TB HDD. Nextcloud syncs fully to that HDD. My full profile (Desktop, Downloads, Documents, etc.) is mirrored to a Nextcloud folder using MirrorFolder.
So:
Copy 1 = C drive
Copy 2 = 8 TB HDD
Copy 3–4 = Server-side DrivePool (two 20 TB HDDs, full duplication)
Copy 5 = Carbonite backup of DrivePool
My C drive is image-backed daily (incremental, with full every 5 days, keeping the last 10). Those go to a 4 TB external, then Kopia on the server backs them up again. Only the full (5th-day) images are sent to Carbonite.
Photo backups reach PhotoPrism either via the photo folder on C that's bi-directionally mirrored to the photo prism folder (scanned with a python script using the API), or from Android via PhotoSync/Syncthing. These folders live on the same 20 TB DrivePool (duplicated and backed up). Audiobookshelf, Komga, etc., also live there.
Plex Media sits on two separate DrivePools (via QNAP TL-D800S DAS units with miniSAS). No duplication—about 100 TB—so Backblaze handles that.
Why both Carbonite and Backblaze? I want Nextcloud and critical items uploaded immediately, not delayed behind TBs of media. I use NetLimiter to cap combined upload to ~75%, letting it auto-balance bandwidth between the two.
That’s it. Fully backed, accessible via reverse proxies. No Google needed—Google Photos? See Immich and PhotoPrism.
