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best way of backing up files
as the subject which is the best strategy to backing up 4x4tb in xraid configuration? I think a copy over a 4tb external drive, I actually have, is a good solution but someone talking me about snaps...
My external USBs are formatted with BTRFS. I do this because I can snapshot the filesystem and thus make easy revisional backups. But what you need to think of most, is access to the USB. EXT4 and BTRFS are Linux only filesystems and thus can only be read by the NAS itself or other Linux computers. NTFS on the other hand, is for Windows.
If you plan being able to use the USB in a Windows laptop/desktop, in order to retrieve your backups in case something goes wrong, then use NTFS.
Personally, I like backing up my critical files everytime I update them.
Snapshots are not backup. Backup is on a separate device that can be accessed if the original fails. Snapshots are complimentary to backup. Their main use is recovery of inadvertently deleted files. That's critical if the creation of or a change to the file occurred after the last backup, but doesn't help if it was also after the last snapshot. Snapshots, however, are very fast to create and also faster than recovery from backup, especially for a large number of files. They can be taken at a much more frequent interval with minimal system impact.
BTRFS snapshots don't take a lot of extra space with data that does not "churn" a lot, as the snapshot points to the same data as the main directory listing for all files that have not changed, so only data changed or deleted takes up snapshot space. Backup, on the other hand, takes as much space as the original. Biut the fact that they point to the same data is also what makes them absolutely not backup, as a file system or drive error can (and usually will) be present in both the main and snapshot data.
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