Data Backup

25 Apr 2024

According to the 3-2-1 backup strategy, I need 3 copies of my data, on two different media, with at least one copy off-site. One way is a local NAS, local bluray, and remote cloud backup.

Backblaze is $ 6 / TB / month.

A bluray lasts about 5 years minimum. $40 for 100 pack of 25 GB discs. That’s 40 * 100 * 0.025 / (5 * 12) = $ 1.67 / TB / month.

A 5-bay NAS is about $1150 without drives and about $15 / TB. The median life expectancy is 6 years and 9 months. Failure rate starts increasing at year four. Assuming 20 TB drives and 4 years, $ (1150 + 15 * 20 * 5) / (20 * 5 * 4 * 12) = $ 0.55 TB / month.

type cost ($ / TB / month)
NAS 0.55
bluray 1.67
cloud 6

100 TB of NAS, 2.5 TB of bluray, 1 TB of cloud is $782.10 a year for a backup.

One could get 3 external hard drives every 4 years for $900. Or maybe make that one 20 TB external hard drive a year for $300 / year. 20 TB is only about 10 million webpage, which takes about 2 days to download on gigabit ethernet. Storage is more expensive than I thought it would be. Google Drive is 2 TB for $10 / month or $ 5 / TB / month. Billed annually, it is $ 4.17 / TB / month.

I think the solution is to live a low data life, but I make my money from data. Data also gives me joy. Marie Kondo my data?