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My digital life isn't as cloud-based. Most of it is in locally stored files. For example, my Gmail account is synced to a local Thunderbird instance and all m
by MarkusWandel 4y ago
My digital life isn't as cloud-based. Most of it is in locally stored files. For example, my Gmail account is synced to a local Thunderbird instance and all my photo and video storage is local.
I have two sets of backup hard disks (each set is a current one, and an old one, both of which get synced; the old one only with the more important stuff since it is smaller). Both sets are LUKS encrypted. One set lives in the filing cabinet at the office (during the COVID lockdown it was at a friend's house). An automatic nag system bugs me if either set hasn't been updated for 40 days.
Updating them is semi-manual. Plug them in, enter the decryption code, run a script stored on the disk itself that gathers all the data - from all over my LAN - that needs backing up. When it's done, unmount and unplug the disk. Make sure one set is always offsite - update set A, take it to the office, store it there, bring set B home, update it.
It's not perfect. If the sort of disaster in this article were to strike, I'd potentially not have the last month's data. But I would have all my passwords (backed up on these disks) and if I had something that gives a last-resort recovery code, that too would be on there - in a separately encrypted sub-filesystem that I know the password to. This is so the super sensitive stuff isn't even decrypted fulltime on my home machine.
I should have readable copies of all the important physical documents and cards in this separately encrypted subfolder too, but currently don't.
- ClumsyPilot 4y agoWhy use such drives instead of like a NAS that you can access remotely? Isn't this more hasstle?
- bombcar 4y agoOff-line backups prevent entire classes of issues; for example, off-line backups can't be destroyed by a virus or ransomware attack.
- 0xCMP 4y agoIt is likely to protect against accidental or malicious modification of the data. eg ransomware. Also not being "in use" makes it less likely to have a mechanical failure.
- MarkusWandel 4y agoTo me these hard disks are one step removed from optical backups, which I used to make. The more "offline" the better. Even the currently local set is kept unplugged between updates. Also keeping a NAS at another location means having internet access at that location. The work network/firewall would not permit this use, for one thing.