7MS #725: Building a Bulletproof Backup Solution
Brian Johnson reveals how a failed backup system forced him to build a 'bulletproof' backup solution that blends personal and work data across multiple redundant layers—proving that true security isn't about complexity, but about strategic redundancy. What started as a crisis with a failing Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) led to a radical upgrade: acquiring a budget auction server from Hetzner with massive storage, then using it to create a dedicated, encrypted, offsite VM backup vault. But the real breakthrough? He leveraged his existing ARQ backup software to push personal data—photos, tax returns, videos—to that same server via SFTP, creating a fourth encrypted copy. This 'overkill' setup, while unconventional, embodies a new philosophy: treat every critical data point as a target worth defending with multiple, geographically and logically separate copies. The episode dismantles the myth that backups must be simple or cheap—instead, Brian argues that the cost of a single data loss event dwarfs the price of a robust, multi-layered defense. The episode also doubles as a love letter to Proxmox, where Brian declares his full allegiance after VMware’s ESXi Free discontinuation. He praises Proxmox PBS for being free, easy to set up, and capable of backing up entire VMs in minutes. He walks through his full stack: local backups, cloud drives (Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive), encrypted cloud storage via ARQ Cloud, and now a dedicated, mirrored, offsite PBS server. The result?
Use ARQ backup software for simple, encrypted, multi-cloud backups to Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and SFTP targets with full retention control.
Deploy Proxmox PBS (free) for full VM-level backups of your servers, enabling nightly, encrypted, offsite VM snapshots with minimal setup.
Use Hetzner’s auction system to get massive, low-cost storage (e.g., 8TB mirrored + 14TB single) for backup servers—ideal for offsite redundancy.
Encrypt all backups at rest using tools like ARQ or Proxmox PBS, ensuring stolen data is useless even if compromised.
Create a fourth redundant copy by using a dedicated backup server’s extra drive to SFTP your personal data, achieving true 4-2-1 redundancy.
…and 3 more takeaways available in PodZeus
The Backup Crisis That Changed Everything
“I found myself this week in a backup conundrum. where my work backups were no longer working. And I was sort of forced to find a way to correct that.”
Personal Backup Evolution: From CrashPlan to ARQ
Brian walks through his journey with various backup tools, settling on ARQ for its simplicity, flexibility, and ability to back up to multiple cloud services.
Work Backup Architecture: Proxmox and the Data Center
He details how he uses a Hetzner Proxmox server for mission-critical VMs and how he previously used cron jobs and scripts to back up data.
The PBS Breakdown and the Auction Server Solution
“You've either got to have a so lean it's dangerous retention policy, or you need to look at something with more disk capacity.”
Building the Bulletproof System: 4+ Redundant Copies
“I will now have a fourth copy in a fourth like cloud of all my personal data? And you know, yes, I guess technically it's intermixed a little bit with the work data, but I've got the 5-4-3-2-1 rule or something like that.”
“And yes, is it overkill that I will now have a fourth copy in a fourth like cloud of all my personal data? And you know, yes, I guess technically it's intermixed a little bit with the work data, but I've got the, I don't know, 5 -4 -3 -2 -1 rule or something like that.”
“You know security is hard, so let's assume we're probably gonna get pwned by noon. But if we all start to get the basics right, we might not fully get pwned until tonight.”
“I've fallen in love with another and her slash his slash they is, they's name is a prox mox. I will never trust Broadcom again.”
Host
Brian Johnson
person
Hetzner
organization
ARQ
product
Proxmox
product
Proxmox Backup Server
product
7 Minute Security
media
Claude
other
Dropbox
other
OneDrive
other
Google Drive
other
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