A practical backup checklist for small self-hosted servers
The setup has three small Optiplex 7040M machines and one Debian 13 desktop. Each small machine has 32 GB of memory, a 256 GB disk, and a 1 TB data disk, all behind an OpenWRT device. Two of the small machines run Proxmox on Debian 13, and the third is intended to become the backup machine.
The Debian 13 desktop also needs backups for settings, documents, pictures, and other user files. restic, Borg, Garage, rclone-related tools, and several others have been considered, but none has clearly matched the desired workflow. The needed tool should avoid LLM involvement or generated code, have at least a 5-year record of , and support offsite backup to a or another remote location over WAN.
The preferred setup is a cron job on each device that sends backups to a repository on the third Optiplex, with that repository easy to mount and browse like a .
Key points
- One small machine is planned as a dedicated backup target for the other systems.
- The backup scope includes two Proxmox servers and a Debian 13 desktop with settings, documents, and pictures.
- restic, Borg, Garage, rclone-related tools, and others have already been checked but did not obviously fit.
- The are no LLM involvement, at least 5 years of history, and offsite backup over WAN.
- The desired workflow is automatic backup with a cron job and a repository that can be mounted like a .