3-2-1 Backup Strategy for Proxmox Homelab

You've spent hundreds of hours building your homelab. Custom configs, perfectly tuned VMs, Docker stacks that actually work, network setups that took weeks to figure out. Then one day your RAID array decides to eat itself, and suddenly you're looking at rebuilding everything from memory.

Don't be that person.

The 3-2-1 backup rule isn't some enterprise buzzword. It's a simple, proven strategy that protects your data against pretty much everything short of a meteor strike. And it's easier to implement than you think.

What Is the 3-2-1 Backup Rule?

The rule is simple:

3 copies of your data 2 different types of storage media 1 copy stored offsite

That's it. Three copies, two media types, one offsite.

Let's break down what this actually means for your Proxmox homelab.

The 3 Copies

This isn't three backups. It's three total copies, including your original data.

1. Original - Your live VM running on Proxmox
2. Copy 1 - Local backup (maybe on your NAS)
3. Copy 2 - Offsite backup (cloud, friend's house, your parents' basement)

Why three? Because two points of failure is one too many. If your only backup is on the same NAS as your data, and that NAS dies, you're done. If you have two backups but they're both local, a house fire takes them both out.

Three copies means you can lose any single point and still recover.

The 2 Media Types

This means don't put all your backups on the same type of storage. Mix it up:

• Primary storage on NVMe SSDs? Use spinning hard drives for backup.
• VMs on ZFS? Back up to ext4 or cloud object storage.
• Everything on one brand of drives? Use a different brand for backups.

Why? Because if there's a firmware bug, manufacturing defect, or filesystem corruption, you don't want it affecting all your copies at once.

For homelabs, this usually means:

• Primary: Fast local storage (SSD, NVMe)
• Backup 1: NAS or external drives (different filesystem)
• Backup 2: Cloud storage (completely different medium)

The 1 Offsite Copy

This is the part people skip because it seems hard. It's not.

"Offsite" just means "not in the same physical location as your primary data." Could be:

• Cloud storage (easiest)
• A drive at a friend's house
• Your office/workplace
• A safe deposit box
• A detached garage (maybe, if it's far enough from the house)

The point is simple: protect against local disasters. Fire, flood, theft, power surge that fries everything, ransomware that spreads through your network.

Why This Matters for Homelab

"But I'm just running a homelab, not a business. Why do I need all this?"

Because your homelab data is valuable. Maybe not in money, but in time.

Think about what you'd lose if your server died right now:

• All your VMs and configurations
• Docker compose files and app data
• Custom scripts and automation
• Network configs you spent weeks perfecting
• Media libraries you've organized
• Files and documents
• That perfectly working Home Assistant setup

Can you recreate all of that from memory? How long would it take? A week? A month? Some of it might be gone forever.

The 3-2-1 rule protects against:

Hardware failure: Drives die. SSDs wear out. RAID arrays corrupt. Having multiple copies on different hardware protects you.

Ransomware: If malware encrypts your primary storage and your local backup (because it was mounted), your offsite copy saves you.

Disasters: House fire, flooding, power surge, lightning strike, theft. Local backups won't help. Offsite does.

Your own mistakes: Deleted the wrong VM? Broke a critical config? Recent backup means you can roll back.

Silent corruption: Sometimes data goes bad slowly. Having multiple copies, especially offsite ones you don't touch, means you can detect and recover.

Implementing 3-2-1 for Proxmox

Let's make this practical. Here's how to actually do this with your Proxmox setup.

Copy 1: Primary Data (Your VMs)

This is what you already have. Your VMs running on Proxmox, probably on local storage:

• Local SSD or NVMe
• Maybe a ZFS pool
• Perhaps a Ceph cluster if you're fancy

This is copy number one. It's your live, working data.

Copy 2: Local Backup

This is your fast recovery option. When something breaks (and it will), you restore from here because it's quick.

Options for local backup:

Proxmox to NAS: Point Proxmox backups at an NFS or SMB share on your NAS. This is the most common homelab setup.

In Proxmox web UI:
Datacenter > Storage > Add > SMB/CIFS or NFS
Then create a backup job:
Datacenter > Backup > Add
Storage: your-nas
Schedule: 02:00 daily
Keep last: 7

External drive rotation: Some people keep a USB drive plugged in, run backups to it, then swap it weekly. Old school but works.

Dedicated backup server: Run Proxmox Backup Server on a separate machine. More complex but very efficient with deduplication.

The key is: different hardware than your primary storage. Ideally different disk types too (SSD primary, HDD backup).

Copy 3: Offsite Backup

This is your disaster recovery option. Use it when your house burns down or floods, or when ransomware encrypted everything local.

For most homelabs, cloud backup is the easiest offsite solution:

Cloud PBS storage (like Remote-Backups.com):

• Set it up once, forget about it
• Automatic backups
• Pay only for what you use
• No hardware to maintain
• Geographic redundancy built in

Other offsite options:

Friend's house swap: You backup to their server, they backup to yours. Free, but requires mutual trust and coordination.

Backblaze B2, Wasabi, AWS S3: Use Proxmox Backup Server with S3 target. More complex setup but very flexible.

Physical drive rotation: Keep encrypted drives offsite, swap them monthly. Cheap but manual and slow.

Cost Comparison: DIY vs Managed

Let's talk money. Because running backup servers costs, and cloud storage costs, and you want to know which is cheaper.

DIY Local PBS Server

Here's what you'd spend for a dedicated Proxmox Backup Server:

5-year TCO for budget build:

• Hardware: $400
• Power: $650 (5 years × $130)
• Maintenance: $375 (5 years × $75 avg)
• Total: ~$1,425

For 2TB of backup storage, that's roughly $11.90/TB/year or $0.99/TB/month.

But wait, that's just the local backup. You still need offsite.

Cloud PBS Storage

Let's compare Remote-Backups.com at €5/TB/month:

5-year cost for 2TB:

• €5/TB × 2TB × 60 months = €600
• Convert to USD (~$1.10 exchange): ~$660
• Total: $660

That's $5.50/TB/year or $0.46/TB/month per terabyte.

Wait, that's cheaper than running your own?

Yep. Because:

• No hardware to buy
• No electricity costs
• No maintenance
• No time spent managing it
• Offsite protection included

The Hybrid Sweet Spot

Here's what most smart homelab operators do:

1. Local NAS backup (you probably already have a NAS)
2. Cloud PBS for offsite (Remote-Backups.com)

Total added cost: Just the cloud storage (~$5-15/month for most homelabs).

You get:

• ✅ Fast local recovery (from NAS)
• ✅ Offsite disaster protection (from cloud)
• ✅ Two different storage types (NAS drives + cloud)
• ✅ Full 3-2-1 compliance

And it's cheaper than running a dedicated backup server.

Setting Up Your 3-2-1 Strategy

Here's the practical implementation:

Step 1: Set Up Local Backup to NAS

If you already have a NAS (and most homelabbers do), use it:

1. Create an NFS or SMB share on your NAS
2. Add it as storage in Proxmox
3. Create a backup job pointing to it
4. Schedule: Daily at 02:00
5. Retention: Keep last 7 days

This is your fast recovery option.

Step 2: Set Up Cloud Offsite Backup

Sign up for Remote-Backups.com (or similar):

1. Create a datastore (start with 100GB free tier)
2. Add it as PBS storage in Proxmox
3. Create a separate backup job pointing to it
4. Schedule: Daily at 04:00 (after local backup)
5. Retention: Keep last 7, daily 14, weekly 8, monthly 6

This is your disaster recovery option.

Step 3: Test Your Restores

This is the step everyone skips. Don't skip it.

Once a month:

1. Pick a random VM
2. Restore it from local backup
3. Verify it boots and works
4. Delete the test restore

Once a quarter:

1. Restore from offsite backup
2. Verify it works
3. Time how long it takes

Why? Because backups you've never restored are just expensive hope. Test them.

Step 4: Monitor

Set up alerts:

• Email notifications for backup failures
• Weekly summary of backup status
• Dashboard checks (your NAS, your cloud storage)

If a backup fails and you don't know about it for a month, what's the point?

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: "My RAID is my backup"

No. RAID protects against drive failure, not against deletion, corruption, ransomware, or disasters. You still need backups.

Mistake 2: "I'll start doing offsite backups next month"

Next month turns into next year. Set it up now. It takes 10 minutes.

Mistake 3: "Backups are too expensive"

You know what's expensive? Rebuilding your entire homelab from scratch. Or worse, losing data you can't recreate.

Mistake 4: "I only need one backup"

One backup means one point of failure. That's not a backup strategy, it's a lottery ticket.

Mistake 5: "I'll remember to test my restores"

No you won't. Schedule it. Put it on your calendar. Actually do it.

What to Backup

Not everything needs the same backup strategy. Prioritize:

Critical (3-2-1 fully implemented)

• Production VMs
• Databases
• Configuration files
• Personal data
• Irreplaceable media
• Password vaults
• Crypto wallets

Important (at least 2 copies)

• Development VMs
• Testing environments
• Downloaded media (replaceable but annoying)
• Application data

Ephemeral (maybe 1 backup, maybe none)

• Temporary test VMs
• Cache data
• Logs
• Download folders

Don't waste backup space on data you can easily replace or don't care about.

Retention Strategy

How long should you keep backups? Depends on what they're protecting:

This gives you:

• Recent history for quick recovery
• Medium-term history for "wait, when did this break?"
• Long-term history for compliance or reference

Adjust based on your needs and storage budget. Aggressive pruning saves money but limits recovery options.

Advanced: The 3-2-1-1-0 Rule

If you want to go further, some organizations follow 3-2-1-1-0:

• 3 copies of data
• 2 different media types
• 1 offsite copy
• 1 offline/air-gapped copy
• 0 errors (verified backups)

The extra "1" is an air-gapped or immutable backup that ransomware can't touch. The "0" means you actually test your backups and verify they work.

For homelabs, this might mean:

• Regular backups to NAS and cloud (your 3-2-1)
• Monthly backup to an external drive you keep disconnected (air-gapped)
• Quarterly restore tests (zero errors verification)

This is paranoia-level backup protection. But if your data is that important, maybe paranoia is justified.

Conclusion

The 3-2-1 backup rule isn't complicated:

1. Keep three copies of your data
2. On two different types of media
3. With one copy offsite

For a Proxmox homelab, that looks like:

• Copy 1: Your live VMs
• Copy 2: Local backup to NAS (fast recovery)
• Copy 3: Cloud backup (disaster recovery)

Total cost: Maybe $10-20/month if you already have a NAS.

Is it worth it? Ask yourself: how much is your time worth? How long would it take to rebuild everything? How much data could you not recreate?

For most people, the answer is "backups are way cheaper than the alternative."

Set it up this weekend. Your future self will thank you.