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I take nightly images of my computer's primary drive and replicate them offsite, with alerting if it fails and automated scheduled backup restore testing. It

I take nightly images of my computer's primary drive and replicate them offsite, with alerting if it fails and automated scheduled backup restore testing. It blows my mind to think that some random schmuck like me has better backup procedures than these multibillion dollar global corporations. Companies that don't invest in their IT end up paying for it tenfold down the track.

kristianov 6y ago
Well who can blame them. The files are not theirs. /s
Dylan16807 6y ago
But insufficient redundancy for that much data saves millions of dollars!
- newyorker2 6y ago
  ...which can instead be pocketed by higher ups in the company food chain :)
dannyw 6y ago
On topic topic, can I get HN’s advice on my backup strategy? All important files on Synology Ds218+ NAS, which has 2x12TB helium HDDs in mirror. Daily HyperBackup to Google Drive. I test restoring files on a monthly basis. Email alerts on failure. Anything I can improve?
- MrGilbert 6y ago
  Looks like a sweet-spot to me.
- ianlevesque 6y ago
  You’re way ahead of the average. The only improvement I can think of would be to server side copy the backup files to another Google Drive account that the account linked to HyperBackup can not access. That way if the Synology gets hacked it cannot delete the offsite backup too.
  - rainbowzootsuit 6y ago
    To add slightly, a "pull" backup from a second backup storage system is possibly a less likely to be a route that an attacker could take from your production system to compromise backups vs a "push" backup from a more open production system. So, for example, ssh key access from backup to production, but not vice versa. Definitely keeping that backup system as simple and low access as possible.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  Google, as a company, is not reliable - I refuse to host anything critical on Google Drive (even G Suite) because there's zero recourse or accountability if a bug in Google's software or if Google arbitrarily decides to ban you for life from their services (e.g. due to misidentifying you from a dodgy YouTube user or repeated Google Play Store policy violations) then they will delete all of your personal and business accounts and you're SOL. What you have is fine for short-term recovery - but I'd make sure you have a long-term and/or cold-storage option set up. It doesn't need to be anything particularly fancy: I'd get a rugged+ portable+external single-drive USB enclosure with a single 16TB drive and have the Synology do a backup of your most critical data onto that drive and store it in your bank's safety deposit box or better yet: leave it with a trusted friend who lives in rural Minnesota or similar. It goes without saying to encrypt that drive as you won't have full custody of it: but use a simple, proven encryption scheme with a large ecosystem that you know that you'll be able to decrypt in 10-20 years' time. For backup drives that I keep local to me, I refuse to encrypt them because (in my experience) the possibility of being unable to decrypt data in a desperate or urgent situation just makes me wince.
  - rightbyte 6y ago
    I have bad experiences encrypting backup drives. If they corrupt a little the data might be gone. You also have the problem of keeping track of the key for years.
    - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
      Protip: write the passphrase in sharpie on the slither of whitespace left available on the drive’s spec sticker
      - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
        What's the point in encrypting the drive if the key is written on the drive?
  - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
    What do you make of comparable services from other providers, say, Amazon Glacier?
- msh 6y ago
  Some way todo a offline snapshot a few times a year.
- Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
  > Daily HyperBackup to Google Drive Is that really backup or a sync? If you have a bitrot (or a ransomware attack encrypts it) in an important file on your disk, and you don't notice it for a week and that file gets sent to Google Drive, will you still be able to restore the original version?
- fokinsean 6y ago
  Synology just opened a US datacenter for their C2 backup service, it's quite easy to use and IMO better than hosting on Google.
soziawa 6y ago
How do you automatically test restores?
- avian 6y ago
  Not the parent, but my homebrew backup script first makes the backup and then attempts to restore a canary file. If that fails it raises the alarm. It's not perfect. I can imagine a scenario where the canary is restorable, but some other important files aren't. However it certainly protects against cases where a bug in the backup software makes a completely unreadable snapshot (which has happened to me before).
  - Spivak 6y ago
    I wouldn't be so harsh on your homebrew solution, deja-dup uses the same strategy to verify backups.
- SturgeonsLaw 6y ago
  I use Duplicati to manage the offsite backups, it comes with a command line tool which can pull random chunks from the storage bucket, decrypt them, and check the file hashs against expected values
ISL 6y ago
How fast is your internet connection? That sounds like a big lift for a full image every night.
- SturgeonsLaw 6y ago
  100/40, the daily images are incrementals which average around 8GB, I take full images once a month

kristianov 6y ago

Well who can blame them. The files are not theirs. /s

Dylan16807 6y ago

But insufficient redundancy for that much data saves millions of dollars!

newyorker2 6y ago
...which can instead be pocketed by higher ups in the company food chain :)

dannyw 6y ago

On topic topic, can I get HN’s advice on my backup strategy? All important files on Synology Ds218+ NAS, which has 2x12TB helium HDDs in mirror. Daily HyperBackup to Google Drive. I test restoring files on a monthly basis. Email alerts on failure. Anything I can improve?

MrGilbert 6y ago
Looks like a sweet-spot to me.
ianlevesque 6y ago
You’re way ahead of the average. The only improvement I can think of would be to server side copy the backup files to another Google Drive account that the account linked to HyperBackup can not access. That way if the Synology gets hacked it cannot delete the offsite backup too.
- rainbowzootsuit 6y ago
  To add slightly, a "pull" backup from a second backup storage system is possibly a less likely to be a route that an attacker could take from your production system to compromise backups vs a "push" backup from a more open production system. So, for example, ssh key access from backup to production, but not vice versa. Definitely keeping that backup system as simple and low access as possible.
DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
Google, as a company, is not reliable - I refuse to host anything critical on Google Drive (even G Suite) because there's zero recourse or accountability if a bug in Google's software or if Google arbitrarily decides to ban you for life from their services (e.g. due to misidentifying you from a dodgy YouTube user or repeated Google Play Store policy violations) then they will delete all of your personal and business accounts and you're SOL. What you have is fine for short-term recovery - but I'd make sure you have a long-term and/or cold-storage option set up. It doesn't need to be anything particularly fancy: I'd get a rugged+ portable+external single-drive USB enclosure with a single 16TB drive and have the Synology do a backup of your most critical data onto that drive and store it in your bank's safety deposit box or better yet: leave it with a trusted friend who lives in rural Minnesota or similar. It goes without saying to encrypt that drive as you won't have full custody of it: but use a simple, proven encryption scheme with a large ecosystem that you know that you'll be able to decrypt in 10-20 years' time. For backup drives that I keep local to me, I refuse to encrypt them because (in my experience) the possibility of being unable to decrypt data in a desperate or urgent situation just makes me wince.
- rightbyte 6y ago
  I have bad experiences encrypting backup drives. If they corrupt a little the data might be gone. You also have the problem of keeping track of the key for years.
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    Protip: write the passphrase in sharpie on the slither of whitespace left available on the drive’s spec sticker
    - MaxBarraclough 6y ago
      What's the point in encrypting the drive if the key is written on the drive?
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  What do you make of comparable services from other providers, say, Amazon Glacier?
msh 6y ago
Some way todo a offline snapshot a few times a year.
Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
> Daily HyperBackup to Google Drive Is that really backup or a sync? If you have a bitrot (or a ransomware attack encrypts it) in an important file on your disk, and you don't notice it for a week and that file gets sent to Google Drive, will you still be able to restore the original version?
fokinsean 6y ago
Synology just opened a US datacenter for their C2 backup service, it's quite easy to use and IMO better than hosting on Google.

soziawa 6y ago

How do you automatically test restores?

avian 6y ago
Not the parent, but my homebrew backup script first makes the backup and then attempts to restore a canary file. If that fails it raises the alarm. It's not perfect. I can imagine a scenario where the canary is restorable, but some other important files aren't. However it certainly protects against cases where a bug in the backup software makes a completely unreadable snapshot (which has happened to me before).
- Spivak 6y ago
  I wouldn't be so harsh on your homebrew solution, deja-dup uses the same strategy to verify backups.
SturgeonsLaw 6y ago
I use Duplicati to manage the offsite backups, it comes with a command line tool which can pull random chunks from the storage bucket, decrypt them, and check the file hashs against expected values

ISL 6y ago

How fast is your internet connection? That sounds like a big lift for a full image every night.

SturgeonsLaw 6y ago
100/40, the daily images are incrementals which average around 8GB, I take full images once a month