Strategy
Three copies, two media, one off-site: the reference rule in preservation, without hand-rolled scripts.
Photo backup
The 3-2-1 rule applied to a photographic collection, with evidence.
Off-site copies to S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, NAS, or local folders, with resumable transfers and consistency checks between copies.
In short
The 3-2-1 rule calls for three copies of your data, on two different media, one of them off-site. Obscura Flow guides that strategy to S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, a NAS, or a local folder, and checks consistency between copies.
- S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, and any S3-compatible destination
- NAS and local folder destinations
- Automatic resume of interrupted uploads
- Consistency checks between local and off-site copies
- Verified restore through signature checking
Evidence
Transfers
An interrupted upload restarts where it stopped, which is what makes large corpora practical to copy.
Compatibility
Any S3-compatible storage works: you are not locked to a single provider.
Choosing destinations
No destination is right in the abstract: the choice depends on volume, budget, and how often you expect to restore.
- Amazon S3
- Mature ecosystem and cold storage classes for archives that are rarely read.
- Backblaze B2
- Low storage cost, often the best ratio for a large collection you seldom reopen.
- Cloudflare R2
- No egress fees, worth considering if you expect to restore or migrate often.
- NAS and local folder
- Fast to restore, but inside the same walls: on their own they do not satisfy the off-site "1".
Backing up is not enough
The most common failure is not a missing backup: it is a backup that exists, has been running for months, and turns out to be unusable the day it is needed.
- Silent corruption
- A damaged file copies just as well as a healthy one, and replaces the good version in every copy.
- Misleading sync
- Synchronization also propagates deletions and mistakes, which is not protection.
- Restore testing
- Only a restore you actually performed proves the chain works end to end.
- Fixity
- Comparing digests across copies catches drift before it spreads.
Step by step
Set up a 3-2-1 backup
From the working copy to a verification restore.
Identify the copy of record
Decide which disk is authoritative. Without a designated copy of record, a divergence between media becomes impossible to arbitrate.
Create the second copy
On physically separate media: a second disk or a NAS, not another partition of the same drive.
Configure the off-site destination
S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, or any S3-compatible storage, based on your volume and restore budget.
Archive before sending
A sealed package with a manifest and signature can be verified on arrival, unlike a raw folder copy.
Schedule audits
Fixity audits compare digests over time and report any degradation.
Actually restore
At least once, restore a full set and open the files. It is the only verification that counts.
Questions
Which backup destinations are supported?
Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Cloudflare R2, any S3-compatible storage, NAS, and local folders for a 3-2-1 strategy.
How does restore work?
Verified restore extracts a local or off-site archive after signature checks, with conflict options and overwrite safeguards.
How often should an archive be verified?
A quarterly fixity audit is enough to catch silent corruption before it propagates into backups. Scheduled audits remove the need to remember.
Is the cloud required?
No. Obscura Flow is local-first and fully usable offline. Cloud features are only used for backups, publishing, and sync that you choose.
Are encrypted archives portable?
AES-256-GCM encryption is optional. An encrypted archive can only be restored on the Mac that created it because the key stays in that Mac's keychain.
Decision
Build an archive that stays understandable.
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