3-2-1 backups for a small project

3-2-1 means at least three copies, on two kinds of media, with one off-site. It sounds heavy; for a small project it looks like this.

Three copies: production, a nightly local backup, and an object-storage copy.

Two media: local disk plus object storage (S3, B2, or another provider). Never the same disk or the same availability zone.

Off-site: object storage is off-site by nature; pick a bucket in a different region from the server.

Encrypt: backups may contain user data. Use age or gpg before upload, and keep the key off the machine being backed up.

Cost: tens of gigabytes in cold storage is a few dollars a month. What is expensive is the recovery you did not prepare for.