Ask HN: How do you manage backups?

10 points by JonathanBuchh ↗ HN
How do people on HN handle backups?

Personally, I use MacOS's Time Machine, since it is super polished and makes restoring files and browsing what the filesystem previously looked like a breeze. It "just works" and is the only backup solution I have used to restore lost files (who knows how well a backup solution works unless you actually test it). I have even been able to set up a Samba server on a Raspberry Pi so I don't need to plug a hard drive into my computer to backup. I upload an encrypted sparesebundle to Backblaze B2 every day with rclone. As I have been looked into using Linux as a daily driver, I have wondered if there was any backup solution as flawless as Time Machine. Does such a piece of software exist?

In sum, I just want to hear how other people on HN do backups – even if it does not solve my problem, though software suggestions are appreciated ;)

6 comments

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I use Afi.ai & keep all my important files on a one-drive backup folder/sharepoint.

For both work (business owner) and personal.

Rclone works well with OneDrive and others on Linux.

AWS S3 bucket and the aws s3 sync CLI is easy, can be scripted or used with a github action.

Use the glacier option on S3 for really old stuff you would only want in an emergency.

I also use an old LTO2 tape drive. Its surprisingly fast and on Linux is well supported , although I just use tar as my back up software for that.

Linux has a lot more options than windows, at least thats what I found after I switched full time a few months ago.

I've never used time machine though.

I used to also use Time Machine, but about a year ago I switched back to PC and now just use DropBox as essentially my hard drive and Google Docs for anything ‘live’ that I’m working on.
RClone + Storj DCS (Decentralized Cloud Storage)
I use iCloud and OneDrive, Google Drive is also a good one.