Your work survives failure and you can restore it
The Oak and the Reed
The oak stood rigid and proud until the storm tore it from its roots. The reed bent with the wind and survived. Your data system needs the reed's strategy: not invulnerable, but recoverable. The storm will come — a hard drive fails, a service shuts down, you delete the wrong file. The question isn't if, but whether you can recover.
Core Concept
The 3-2-1 backup rule is simple: 3 copies of your data, on 2 different media types, with 1 copy offsite. It's the minimum viable protection against data loss — and most people have zero of the three.
Today you'll set up automated backups for your critical data: local backup (Time Machine or equivalent), cloud backup (Backblaze, Arq, or a sync service), and a quarterly restore test to make sure it all actually works when you need it.
Key Principles
Today's Deliverable
Set up local backup (Time Machine or rsync). Set up cloud backup (Backblaze, Arq, or cloud sync). Verify you have 3 copies on 2 media types with 1 offsite. Then restore one file from backup to verify the whole chain works.
Completion Checklist
Template Downloads
Backup Checklist (PDF)