Help me decide on a Backup Strategy

[Manyakus]

I am currently building my FreeNas box and my main data will be stored in 6x 3TB WD Red in RaidZ2 for a total space of 12 TB.
I currently have 4TB of Data so I think my 12 TB capacity will last at least for a good 3-4 years.
However I am not sure what would be my best backup strategy.
My data is important to me but I have some limitation/consideration:

• I will not upload anything to the cloud. I don't trust big corporation and never will do. Beside that it would at least be 50$-100$/month for 4TB cloud backup.
• For the time being, building another FreeNAS to do ZFS Send/Receive (Replication) is not in my budget. Definitely in 3-4 years when I will retire my actual FreeNas gear and use it as a secondary FreeNas.
• Backup is to be done once a week, during night time.
• I don't care about Backup speed, (the argument of using Replication).
• I mostly care about data integrity and being able to see the incremental backup if needed to go back in time.
• My FreeNas is open to the internet, and there will be a possibility that I get Ransomwared, so I think having Snapshot/Replication will be a good option?

That leaves me to 5 options that I can think off:

1. Make another pool in my actual FreeNas and do snapshot/replication to it. I have enough bays for that. But then again making a backup on the same machine is not a backup, but it would be better than nothing?
2. Backup my data to an external drive with esata connection, this would need one big disk drive and FreeNas would see that as a single disk? I would then be able to use replication? Just need to mount and unmount it everytime?
3. Same as option #2 but with multiple drives and FreeNas will create a pool that I can mount and unmount every time I want to do Replication?
4. I have 2x HDD enclosures, each one of them can hold 2 disk drives, it is basically a DAS with Raid 0/1 capability. They have 1x eSata connection from the back but it is a port multiplier and I think this is a no no for FreeNas?
5. Buy another NAS system like Synology/QNAP and just use a regular Backup software that will backup my Data on a SMB file sharing level?

I need some help and guidance. I have been thinking about it for too long and I am stuck.
Thank!

 

[0x4161726f6e]

Another possible option (if you have a friend running FreeNAS), be each others backup.

I'll second the no-go on #4.

Because I have a number of old systems around, I'm debating between a second NAS or extra disks rotated out regularly. So in your case I'll vote for #3.

 

[NASbox]

Depending on how much data/how the data is configured you could do something like this:

https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/how-to-backup-to-local-disks.51693/#post-428001

So far it has worked for me. Not ideal, but building another system isn't an option, and I feel the same way you do about the cloud.

Stay away from #4.... a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[Manyakus]

I've read your post and yes I agree it does make sense.
I didn't buy the case yet, but was thinking of the Rosewill L4412 with hot swap.
In that case I wouldn't really need the Addonics cartridge system, because it has hot swap but don't know how long they will last.

Was also thinking of adding a SATA power switch but in that scenario the Backup Drives will stay in the case, they will be powered down when not in use. Having the drives in the case or in a safe wouldn't really change anything for me, they are still considered onsite backup.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/HDD-Power-S...h=item41e41ad21a:g:1vgAAOSwkKBbGiXg:rk:5:pf:0

 

[NASbox]

I've read your post and yes I agree it does make sense.
I didn't buy the case yet, but was thinking of the Rosewill L4412 with hot swap.
In that case I wouldn't really need the Addonics cartridge system, because it has hot swap but don't know how long they will last.

Was also thinking of adding a SATA power switch but in that scenario the Backup Drives will stay in the case, they will be powered down when not in use. Having the drives in the case or in a safe wouldn't really change anything for me, they are still considered onsite backup.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/HDD-Power-S...h=item41e41ad21a:g:1vgAAOSwkKBbGiXg:rk:5:pf:0

I can't tell from the picture, but the Rosewill L4412 likely doesn't protect the connector on the sata drive. If you plan on leaving the drive in the case except for a very rare swap... you are fine. If you want to change the drive frequently, I'd recommend the addonics product that protects the sata drive. The way those are built they will likely outlive SATA.