My new backup strategy

I have a few computers on a small home network. I have 4 desktops, a couple of laptops, an Asustor NAS, multiple tablets and cell phones, IP cameras and POE switches and an NVR, and a bunch of IOT devices. I average about 50 devices on my little home network. I segmented out the IOT devices and IP cameras using VLAN’s. Netgear all the way baby! No TP Link here lol

I have always backed up my 4 desktops to the NAS. I just read somewhere best common practice is to not use a NAS as your only backup device. I read that a NAS is a storage device not a backup device. I did have a backup to the backup, but I just changed my backup strategy. Obviously, I am self taught networking so bear with me please.

My NAS has been acting a little inconsistently lately and I have been thinking about this for a while now. It will start beeping and flashing red LED’s and not be available on the network. I pull the plug to reboot it and it comes back to life every time so far. But what if it doesn’t come back to life one time?

Now I created a backup mini pc on my home network sharing an external drive. I use Free File sync batch files and I scheduled them to run using Windows Task Scheduler on each computer every night. Comparing 2 folders then syncing them. One folder in the pc to be backed up comparing to a folder in the backup pc.

I am not concerned with disk imaging or making a Windows backup. I figure if something catastrophic happens I will reinstall Windows anyway. So I am only backing up my data.

I really like that I am just copying files. I can see each individual file for myself in the backup pc. That gives me some comfort for some reason. Old School.

Am I safe more or less? I think this is a good backup strategy but what do I know. I wanted to bounce this off you guys and get your opinion. Flame on!

@sdtag

Quick, watch this X-Files episode before it's too late. ^^

sdtag said:

It will start beeping and flashing red LED’s and not be available on the network. I pull the plug to reboot it and it comes back to life every time so far. But what if it doesn’t come back to life one time?

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Please post the log files why this is happening, perhaps there is a solution to solve this issue.

About backup, i also backup(file sync) all machines to my storage nas. And then i have 2 backup usb disk, one for even and one for uneven weeks that i rotate to backup the entire storage to. So basicly i consider the backups on the nas as data & backup them as well. I don't backup the OS the same as you, i rather reinstall it.