Backups & Cloud Storage

If you've never backed up data before, I recommend starting now. Once you have a drive failure or something gets lost, it's too late. As the old saying says - "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." The general rule of backups is the 3-2-1 rule. 3 copies (original and two backups), on two different media (e.g. backup drive + USB), and 1 offsite (e.g. cloud). What most people don't think about is how sensitive much of this data is and the steps needed to keep it secure from prying eyes.

How you decide to do your backups is going to be dependent on what you want to have backed up - entire OS vs. certain files/folders. I've found it's a good idea to have multiple versions of data backed up. For example, if you back up a folder on a monthly basis, it would look like this - Docs (August 2025), Docs (September 2025). You would have multiple copies of the same data taking up extra space, but this can be useful later on in the event you deal with an issue like file corruption you didn't know about at the time.

As far as local storage options, you can use DVDs, hard drives, NAS, USB drives, etc. These options can degrade over time and cause the data to become corrupted. They can also be lost and damaged, which is why a cloud backup is also a good idea. For cloud providers, security and privacy are critical. I'll cover some providers later on.

When you use any of the local backup options, it's a good idea to have full encryption. This can be different, depending on the OS you're using. For example, Windows users can apply BitLocker to USB drives/external HDDs/etc. The major concern is losing access to your password to unlock the data, so make sure you can remember the password or store it somewhere secure for when it's needed. If you're on Linux, a great option is Veracrypt. As long as you're comfortable with properly using encryption, it's good to always encrypt your backups in case someone were to ever have access to the storage media.

As for cloud options, the mainstream choices are bad for privacy. When you consent to using the service and agreeing to the terms, you're agreeing that the services can scan the content for anything objectionable. While I don't completely disagree with this, it's bad from a data privacy perspective. If you're new to encryption, this means the files are not using zero knowledge encryption. While you could use one of the big name services and encrypt files locally using Cryptomator, the better option would be to pick a private by default service.

Two of the better choices for consumer options are Filen and Proton Drive. Filen is great if you need a lot of storage for cheap, while Proton is better established and audited but will cost more for a comparable level of storage you get with Filen. If you're okay with more expensive options, Tresorit is a great choice. If you wanted to self host, Nextcloud is a viable option.

If you're interested in Web3 variations of cloud storage, where your data is stored on "the blockchain" (hard drives from other users in the ecosystem), there's a lot of players in the field these days. Storj and DeStor (Filecoin) are two examples. If you decide to use any of these options, be sure to research the project and the team, see if there are publicly available audit results from a company like Securitum or Cure53, and verify if the platforms use zero knowledge encryption. Also be aware the decentralized solutions seem to be about 30-50% more expensive than the corporate options. Whatever you decide to use from all the options listed on this page, I still recommend that only you "hold the keys," meaning you encrypt everything locally using utilities like Cryptomator or Picocrypt before you upload them to someone else's hardware.