Infrastructure & Engineering

Practical Tiered Backup with TrueNAS & Google Drive

Otama
4 min read

Introduction: The “3-2-1 Backup Rule” is Too Heavy for Homelabs

Hey everyone, are you properly backing up your homelab NAS? We all know the saying “data on a NAS is gone the moment it’s gone,” but when you try to build a flawless backup architecture, the hurdle is so high that you end up procrastinating.

The fundamental “3-2-1 backup rule” (3 copies, 2 different media, 1 offsite) is highly recommended. However, strictly enforcing this in a personal homelab environment is honestly quite exhausting, both in terms of cost and daily operation.

I realized that “running a slightly loose but practical backup is better than striving for perfection and doing nothing.” Because of this, I built a tiered backup system combining TrueNAS and Google Drive, prioritizing cost and practicality. Here is a memo of the architecture and setup.

The Architecture: A 3-Tier Setup Tailored for Cost and Use Cases

This time, I decided to manage my storage by loosely dividing it into three tiers based on data type and access frequency. While it falls a bit short of the strict 3-2-1 rule, I’m turning a blind eye to that in favor of pure practicality.

flowchart TD

Backup 1: NAS Internal SSD (High-Speed / Streaming)

The data accessed most frequently is stored on speedy internal SSDs.

Specifically, this is limited to apps for photos (Immich), documents (Paperless), knowledge bases (Outline), and e-books (Booklore). Essentially, anything I want to “instantly stream via a smartphone or PC app” goes here. Since loading latency directly impacts user experience, this is where you feel the benefits of an SSD, despite the higher cost-per-GB.

Backup 2: NAS Internal HDD / RAID1 (High-Capacity / Archive)

Next, I set up an HDD pool (RAID1) as the primary backup vault and high-capacity storage. This tier serves three main purposes:

  1. Local backup destination for the SSD data (Backup 1).
  2. Storage for capacity-hungry app data (stored here from the start so it doesn’t inflate the SSD).
  3. Local PC archives (Directly dumping rarely used data or “I’ll organize this later” files via Samba).

Think of this as the final resting place for everything that needs massive capacity but has low access frequency.

Backup 3: Google Drive (Cloud / The Final Defense Line)

The final fortress is cloud backup. This time, I’m utilizing TrueNAS’s native features to “PUSH” sync data to Google Drive.

Since I’m currently subscribed to “Google AI Pro,” I get 2TB of cloud storage as a byproduct. 2TB seems like a lot, but it’s clear as day that pushing everything will fill it up instantly. Because of this, I only push strictly curated data to the cloud—photos, critical documents, and things I would literally cry over if I lost.

Setting Up Cloud Sync on TrueNAS

Backing up from TrueNAS to Google Drive is refreshingly clean and can be done entirely with native features.

1. Configuring Cloud Credentials

First, link TrueNAS and Google Drive. Navigate to Credentials -> Backup Credentials from the left menu and add “Cloud Credentials.” Select Google Drive as the provider and simply follow the on-screen instructions to authenticate your Google Account. A few clicks for OAuth, and you’re done.

2. Adding Data Protection (Cloud Sync Tasks)

Next, set up the actual backup job.

Go to Data Protection from the menu and add a new Cloud Sync Task.

  • Direction (方向): PUSH (One-way upload from NAS to Cloud)
  • Transfer Mode: Set according to your needs, like SYNC or COPY.
  • Directory / Folder: Specify the NAS directory you want to back up and the destination folder in Google Drive.

One quick tip here: The default schedule is set to “Daily at 00:00.” This is the exact time when countless batch processes are running worldwide. If possible, I low-key recommend shifting this to a different time using Cron format (like 3:15 AM). Small considerations like this prevent random bandwidth bottlenecks during operation.

Conclusion: Even if it’s Not Perfect, “Peace of Mind” is Still Buyable

Since adopting this architecture, my peace of mind regarding storage failures or catastrophic PC crashes has skyrocketed. Sure, if you look at it from an enterprise standard, there are plenty of areas to criticize, but for personal use, the benefits are more than enough.

Watching the logs as my data gets automatically sucked into Google Drive gives me real, tangible proof that “Ah, my data is protected,” which does wonders for my mental health.

If you’re procrastinating on cloud backups because “the setup seems annoying,” setting it up via TrueNAS is shockingly easy. Take this opportunity to give it a try!

Related Posts