What are the most reliable storage devices for long-term data backup?

[Michaelwithrow]

When it comes to choosing the right storage devices for long-term backup, there are so many options that it can feel overwhelming. Some people prefer external hard drives because they offer larger capacities at a reasonable cost, while others recommend SSDs for their speed and durability. Cloud storage is another option, but it depends on internet reliability and subscription costs. I’ve also heard about NAS (Network Attached Storage) for those who want centralized access for multiple users. In your experience, which storage devices provide the best balance of affordability, reliability, and performance? I’m looking for recommendations from those who have used them over time.

[Stavros]

What's your time horizon? Years? Decades? If it's just years you could do hot-cold backups with HDDs. If you want real archival (whole system) you'll be looking at LTO tapes. The tapes themselves are cheap however the drives are expensive. Magnetic tape can hold half a petabyte. This medium is really for backing up whole systems and not individual files.

If you're looking at something like DVD/CDs you'll have to look at something more specialized like M-DISC. This is designed to fight bitrot. The manufacture claims it's supposed to last a thousand years. We'll see if that holds up to its claim.

[ph0bYx]

This feels like a spam post, advertising their service from the signature.

[bad_brain]

This feels like a spam post, advertising their service from the signature.

yeah, I banned the account and removed the sig, but left the post up because the topic is interesting.

as Stav said, LTO tapes are really good...but they are very sensible to temperature and air humidity, so controlling the environment with an AC is a must. for optical storage discs it's also important, additionally they are sensitive to UV rays, but you can add some extra protection by applying car wax (seriously).

personally I store my really important stuff on a RAID 5 array on my home server, but it's 97% full so I am planning to get a NAS with bigger WD Red drives where I can also upgrade to a RAID 6 array. as 2nd backup spot I am using a cloud storage drive where I also push my nightly server backups to via borg.