If you're technically inclined, consider using Borg, Vorta, and rsync.net for encrypted remote backups. If that feels a bit too complex, Arq Backup might be a simpler option for you.
Doing regular backups is something everyone advises you to do, but it’s not easy to implement in daily life. I use offsite backups following the "3-2-1 backup strategy":
- 3 copies of your data: 1 primary + 2 backups
- 2 different media types: e.g., internal drive + external HDD/cloud
- 1 offsite backup: cloud or a physically distant location
Additional requirements for a backup solution include:
- Automate backups whenever possible
- Use encryption
- Regularly restore your backups to test their validity
As a Mac household, we rely on Time Machine with our Synology NAS located in our basement. For cloud backup, I've been using Backblaze. Additionally, our 20+ year photo archive—one of our most precious digital assets—is backed up to iCloud. This setup has been largely "set it and forget it," and I've successfully (and, luckily, only rarely) restored files without facing any major incidents.
However, a recent article raised concerns about Backblaze. Along with my desire to reduce dependence on tech services from overseas, I have been considering alternatives. Options like Carbonite or iDrive are available. Without actually testing them, I found Arq Backup to be a viable option since it allows for multiple cloud storage providers and offers both a license and subscription option.
In the end, I decided to take quite a technical route with Borg and rsync.net:
- Borg is a command-line backup program that runs on any platform and provides deduplication, compression, and end-to-end encryption. It’s free and open-source software but is not suitable for those who are less tech-savvy. There is a GUI desktop client called Vorta for macOS and Linux desktops, but some technical understanding is still needed.
- rsync.net is a cloud service that essentially offers you a UNIX
filesystem running on ZFS. You can access it with any SSH/SFTP tool, such as
rsyncor Borg. One of their locations is in Zürich, and networking is powered by my fiber internet provider init7 - this is perfect and I have not experienced any speed bottlenecks. All transfer/bandwidth/usage is free; you only pay for storage, which is $0.008 per GB per month for Borg usage.
I have been running this setup for a couple of weeks, and it looks good so far. Transfer speeds meet my expectations (I have a 1 Gbit/sec connection), and I can mount archives to my desktop using MacFuse, making file restoration fast and easy.