Whatever you backup online, encrypt it.
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2026
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Generally speaking, you'll want to follow the 3-2-1 storage rule.
(3 Copies, 2 Media Types, 1 Off-site)
Copy 1 would be the original info saved on your main drive or wherever you access them immediately.
Copy 2 is a local backup saved to an external hard drive or a home server, ideally one that's powered off and not connected to direct power (lightning strikes)
Copy 3 can either be a cloud storage backup (such as Google Drive or OneDrive) or a copy kept at a friend's house.
Set up a self hosted server using Linux, the you can add the remote location as a network drive
I use Backblaze and find it to be quite reasonable since they have a flat rate for unlimited storage.
Consider Proton. The Swiss have kickass privacy laws.
For now
Between the Swiss FADP and GDPR, Europe is by far a safer place to house your data.
Just also be sure that anything you don't want Microsoft to know is being accessed through Linux instead of Windows, or you're shooting yourself in the foot. Microsoft obviously doesn't give a fuck a Euro privacy laws.
Honestly, physical storage is your best bet for that amount of data. Just grab yourself an affordable hard disk drive, connect it to an unoccupied SATA port on your motherboard and then use synchronization software to make a replica of your main drive that syncs multiple times a day.
Its a lot easier than it sounds.
Tangential reply: The manner in which your 1TB drive "took a crap" might be cause for concern depending on the precise nature of the failure.
If the hardware is fine, you might be able to recover files on it. This possibility is diminished if you've reformatted and put new files onto it, and practically nil if you did a full drive wipe beforehand (or the failure, whatever that was, did something similar.), but the possibility might have been there and may still be there.
If the hardware is not fine, you probably shouldn't use it for anything important, if at all.
You want something like backblaze or icedrive.
They're not cheap anymore (thanks data centers) butnyoud usually want another physical backup and also the cloud. Dont fully trust cloud providers either.
I'd reconsider icedrive. They recently got rid of WebDAV mounting so now my 1 TB lifetime plan is completely useless.
Yeah I know. They were the best one I could find for the price that lets me sync folders like I want...I had backblaze, but they don't support linux. and other backups are way too small for me. I need at least 6-10 TB (for work and personal files).
I recommend against IceDrive https://lemmy.world/post/34649478
Yeah I heard that. I have it for a year but I'll probably look elsewhere.
If recommended hetzners next cloud storage shares, they're cheap and you know what software is running on it. I believe it's like 5€ a month
You'll have to pay for that much cloud storage. How much depends on your specific needs.
Backblaze offers "unlimited" PC backup for $9/month: https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/personal
If you want more control, you can save some money by using a tool that can work with a wide variety of cloud storage providers, and then pick a cheaper provider, instead of using an all-in-one service like Backblaze.
Borg Backup is a free tool that can work with lots of storage providers. This is a great option for more technical users, and there are also some GUI tools that make it easier to use like Vorta (Mac and Linux; I'm not personally familiar with any GUIs for Windows). Borg handles data de-duplication, compression, and encryption. It's great for local backups as well as cloud backups. I'm not sure what the cheapest option is, but Hetzner supports Borg Backup in their storage boxes, which go for €3.20/month for 1TB.
rclone is similar, though it's more of a sync tool than a backup tool. Depending on your setup, this distinction could be purely academic. It handles encryption, incremental syncing, and a lot of other advanced uses. Like Borg, you can choose from almost any cloud storage provider or use local drives.
Everyone else has answered your question, so I’ll answer the one you didn’t ask.
For physical backup, you want two local network backup drives that alternate in backing up your data hourly when you’re on the local network. That way, you have three copies of the data and if one fails, you can swap it out.
Then you ALSO want rotating backups that get stored off site (eg in a safe deposit box). Every 3 months or so, you take the one of these at home that’s 6 months old, back everything up to it, take it to the offsite and retrieve the other one.
This means that if something corrupts your data and you don’t notice until your local backups are also corrupted, you have two older snapshots — one of which is somewhere else, so if your home gets destroyed you still have a backup.
The cloud backups can be layered on top of this as desired; they all serve different backup purposes.
There are a huge number of online companies to store your data. Google, Dropbox, Box, and about 100 nextcloud resellers, just to name a few. They all have tutorials on their sites to explain how to upload your files for safer keeping.
What about pirated stuff?
Don't worry about backing up that stuff, everyone else is already, so in a data loss event you can always get it again from the internet.
Encrypt your backups and you are good.
All my video media is stored in-house. My music library and pictures are all backed up on a storage box from Hetzner. 5tb for 11 euro per month. I don't think they scan the files in your storage box, but like I said, all my video media is on drives on my home network.