3-2-1 strategy for laptops and desktops?

Getting Help
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I think I have a simple question about the architecture for 3-2-1 backups of running systems. In short, I’m not sure how to feed the second backup.

I know I want to have a local NAS that hosts the primary, local backup of all of the laptops and desktops. I know I want to have an offsite NAS that hosts a second backup.

In terms of feeding the second backup I can think of four options:

  1. Run a Restic backup to NAS #1 and a Borg backup to NAS #2 each day on each system.
  2. Run two separate Restic backups each day on each system, one to each NAS.
  3. Run a Restic backup each day on each system to NAS #1 and then Restic sync the backup to NAS #2.
  4. Run a backup each day on each system to NAS #2 and do a file-level backup of NAS #1 to #2.

My concern with the “two backups per day per system” approaches is it feels like more moving parts to track on the desktops and laptops. I’m confident in my ability to monitor the NAS and the network because they are relatively stable. I’m not keen on having two different things on each system that I’m likely to break while i’m mucking. Having one seems simpler…

What am I missing and what would you do?

Thank you!

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Welcome here @LoftyGoals !

I do NOT backup my laptop, my phone or my desktop. Instead I do this:

  • I use Syncthing to keep the files I care about synched between my devices and my NAS.
  • I run Restic on my NAS for backup.

The benefits I see are these:

  • The files are available where I need them regardless of which device I am using at the moment.
  • I don’t have to use VPN between my “portable” devices and the NAS.
  • I need to backup only ONE device: The NAS.
1 Like
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I described my backup solution in another topic:

  • Syncthing App to sync files between Android phone, laptop and cloud backup server. Phone data backup runs on backup server.