"Offsite" Onsite backup struggles.....

niwatori1 · July 10, 2023

Hi all!

I wanted to share my struggles/ get advice on an "offsite" onsite storage solution,

What I mean is a disaster resistant NAS solution on site that will likely survive what all the other machines wont.

I can't do a true offsite solution for 3 main reasons.

1.Not technically skilled enough to set up a VPN. (Never Tried)

2.my ISP Does not allow residential services get a static IP. and they work through a NAT so the IP changes based on server location...

3.My Router is built into the ISP modem, i have no way to adjust settings myself an need to call my ISP for port forwarding, troubleshooting, etc...

I won't do a cloud solution for 2 reasons.

1. Cost is insane over time.

2. Privacy. There is no such thing as cloud, just someone else's computer.

The first idea i had was a PVC pipe of a large diameter, put desiccant in the bottom of it and a small WiFi NAS in it,

power it with a solar panel and bury it away from trees and buildings with a small ring of concrete around it to keep the foliage away.

this solves most problems,

if nothing that can burn can fall on it and the upper concrete keeps a grass fire away from the access cap, fire isn't an issue.

if its buried at ground level, tornadoes don't have a vertical surface to break.

if the PVC enclosure is water tight, and you add concrete around the bottom of it a flood isn't a problem and it shouldn't float away.

if it's WiFi and solar powered then it won't be impacted by lightning.

But this idea has issues...

Condensation. hopefully being airtight and having desiccant poured in it to remove the moisture from the air can keep that at bay.

Heat dissipation. apparently there are equations that you can do that tell you the max heat a particular enclosure can handle.

Temperature. apparently ground temperature is much more stable than air and shouldn't be a huge issue?

Serviceability. its a NAS that's buried outside with a 6" access cap, if anything goes wrong, it's going to be a PITA to troubleshoot.

Solar power. Even if the panel, battery and power circuits in a more accessible location, it's still solar... maintenance and reliability aren't great.

WIFI connection. I'm pretty sure if you bury a WiFi adapter the range isn't great...

What I've tried is using a 12VDC intel NUC as a NAS, while i was doing initial transfer of files, the USB controller failed.. and that's where the project stalled

I'm looking for recommendations for basic NAS hardware i can stuff into this pipe.

Ideally I'd Like it to be.

Small(obviously)

12VDC compatable

2.5" sata Drive compatable

x86(for ease of software compatibility)

I've ruled out the Ras Pi and other ARM SBCs because of software and availability issues.

other x86 SBC's seem to be outrageously priced

Thanks for your help!

DX250 · July 10, 2023

I work with buried electronics daily with the budget of a large isp, water always gets in. How much data are you looking at? What I have done for my offsite back up is an LTO 5 tape drive. The tapes and drives are relatively inexpensive and hold 1.5TB. I am able to stoer them at my sister's house but I would otherwise use a safe deposit box at the bank. If you are set in on site maybe a small shed or even something like a doghouse and hide the hardware in something. I would feed power from the house for primary power and use solar or just a ups for backup. The amount of data is a big factor.

LIGISTX · July 10, 2023

36 minutes ago, niwatori1 said:

1.Not technically skilled enough to set up a VPN. (Never Tried)

2.my ISP Does not allow residential services get a static IP. and they work through a NAT so the IP changes based on server location...

3.My Router is built into the ISP modem, i have no way to adjust settings myself an need to call my ISP for port forwarding, troubleshooting, etc..

Just so you know, these are all non-reasons. A VPN is not difficult to set up, and if you can set up a NAS, you can set up a VPN.

You don’t need a static IP, almost no home user has one. DynamicDNS providers solve this issue, Cloudflare is one, it works fantastic. You just forward a website to your IP address via a little program that runs inside your network and calls home to Cloudflare with your current IP.

Look into tailscale VPN, it doesn’t require ports to be opened.

39 minutes ago, niwatori1 said:

I won't do a cloud solution for 2 reasons.

1. Cost is insane over time.

2. Privacy. There is no such thing as cloud, just someone else's computer.

Backblaze for a single PC is like 6 bucks a month for unlimited storage…. If you backup from windows this works, if you backup from a NAS you need to pay for their B2 tier, which is more expensive. I backup ~4.5TB, and it costs me about 25 bucks last I checked per month to keep that data stored there. It also supports user side encryption….. so until all encryption is broken, which will be a much, much larger issue for the world as a whole then your files being able to be decrypted, this is a non issue. Once current encryption can be broken, all banks will be emptied, all utilities will be compromised, all the internet will be plunged into disaster - your little slice of a cloud server isn’t going to matter. Don’t not use the cloud because you fear what you don’t understand. I recommend looking into how encryption works, and why having a client side encryption mechanism which backblaze has effectively means your data is as safe as it would be on your own network….. potentially safer actually.

I have no idea how you would deal with thermal management on a sealed container. You need to either exchange air with the outside world, or exchange heat via running a water loop…. But that would only address the CPU’s heat. Remember, every watt of power a PC draws is turned into heat. That heat is then going into the volume of air the PC is in, if that volume of air is sealed in a box, it will eventually rise to the point of the machine turning off due to thermal protection kicking in. If you had a way to radiate the heat into the ground……. Maybe it could work if it’s low power enough. But, this all sort of makes no sense. Either get an offsite backup working, or learn why encryption is fine. You trust all of your money and personal property to encryption (all money in banks is protected by weaker encryption then you can employ for you backblaze setup, and all digital records of house, car, debt, credit, citizenship, etc etc is as well)…. I’m sure your data can be trusted to encryption as well. Because, again, when encryption is defeated, our current way of life is defeated.