How do you do it?

• cloud storage provider?

• plugin?

• docker app?

• script?

Let the rest of us know!

For desktop clients - UrBackup

For phones - Nextcloud

For the server and the important stuff above - another Unraid server with an rsync script

And another copy of the important stuff manually to cold external hard drives

Edited June 4, 20251 yr by Michael_P

Backup - stuff from phone to the nextcloud

Photos - immich

Appdata backup plugin

vaultwarden - passwords

Duplicati to copy appdata,nextloud and immich to the separate drive (wd mybook)

Going to use hetzer cloud for backup, might use Duplicati as well to set it up or I might movie to Kopia as it is faster.

Also my unraid got 2 parity drives and cache nvme is running in mirror mode, but I would not call them as typical backup.

All files on all devices are synchonized to my file servers and those are syncrhonized with each other (using Syncthing). The backup server then creates snapshots each night of all that synchronized data (using Vorta/Borg). All servers are in separate locations. All servers use dual parity and cache nvme in mirror mode like @Joloxx9 .

I save everything on PostIt Notes. 😜

My approach is a combination of self made scripts utilizing rsync and Macrium Reflect. The first thing to do is evaluate what data you need to back up and how "mission critical" that data is. I try to maintain a 3-2-1 philosophy for my most critical and small data set backups. Some (such as the 30TB Media share) only get a single backup destination.

For me, I have 2 Windows PCs which need be backed up. I send these to my main Unraid server via Macrium Reflect daily. My wife and I back up our iPhone/iPad photos to Immich running on the server (also iCloud as well). For the Windows boxes, I keep 3 months (plus the current month) in dedicated folders in my Backup share, then those older than this move to the Backup/Historical/<pc_name> folder (just the monthly files).

I then have an external USB drive (actually 2, more on this later). A weekly script rsync mirrors the data of the Windows active backup folders, as well as a few other things (Appdata Backup plugin files of Appdata and Unraid flash, Photos, Media/Music folder).

Every 2-3 months (when I remember) I swap this USB drive for a second one, which I keep locked up at work. This is the "worst case" backup, if my home is destroyed or I get ransomware. I have a few other systems/services which save their backups on my Google Drive. I will usually add these to these external drives when I swap them.

As for my media, I have a second Unraid server. It only has two roles in life - It runs my security camera NVR and twice a month it gets an rsysnc mirror of all of my media. As this data isn't "mission" critical and is replaceable, a single backup is something I'm comfortable with.

I am happy with the scripts. All of them include sending notifications to a dedicated Telegram chat, both when things work and when they don't.

Check out our new backup video using Duplicati!

Backing Up Unraid with Duplicati: Complete Guide for Cloud, USB, Local and Remote Backups

We should consolidate all backup topics ...

Anyway, it's always interesting to read someone else's backup strategy. Here's mine:

We only need to backup 3 devices: 2 phones and an unraid server. We also have a linux laptop but there's no data stored on it so if there is something wrong with it i just reinstall my linux-distro. (and i have an excuse to try another distro )

Phones -> immich -> Main server -> rsync ->Backup server

Laptop <-> nextcloud <-> Main server -> rsync -> Backup server

I use rsync because it rarely fails and you don't need to maintain another container.

@ConnerVT i'm interested in your appdata backup script. I make weekly backups of all my immich-related appdata but i have other docker-containers too that are currently not backed up. Care to share our script?

@Aran - It ain't much of a script. I use the Appdata Backup plugin in a pretty basic configuration - Stop the container, back up the appdata, restart the container. That goes in a folder within my Backup share. Nothing interesting there.

What I also do is - Weekly I include that Backup share folder in a simple rsync script (along with other computer's backups also residing in the Backup share) and mirror it to an external 8TB USB drive. Then I occasionally swap that drive with one I keep at work.

3-2-1, Belt-Suspenders-Duct Tape, however you wish to look at it.