NAS Backup Planner
Answer what you store, how much data loss you can tolerate and how fast you need it back. The planner returns a layered backup plan with frequencies, retention and a test cadence — and names the gaps in your current setup instead of flattering it.
Backup frequency
—
Version retention
—
Restore test cadence
—
Your layers:
Watch these:
Four words people use interchangeably (and should not)
Sync mirrors changes to another location — including deletions and ransomware encryption. Backup keeps independent, versioned copies written by backup software. Snapshot freezes the volume at a point in time, on the same hardware. Off-site backup is any of the first two living somewhere else. A complete plan usually wants all four concepts in different places — and a restore test to prove it.
The 3-2-1 pattern — three copies, two media, one off-site — is a reference point, not a certificate. The planner weighs your recovery targets and what hardware you actually have, then tells you what is missing, including when the honest answer is that no plan yet exists.
Is 3-2-1 the only valid plan?
No, and treating it as dogma misleads people. Three copies, two media, one off-site is a sound reference point; a two-copy plan with an honest off-site rotation can beat a nominal 3-2-1 that has never been restore-tested. The planner applies the principle to your inputs instead of reciting it.
Is a snapshot a backup?
No. A snapshot shares the volume it lives on: delete the volume, lose the snapshot. Snapshots are excellent for short-window recovery from deletion or ransomware — and useless when the hardware itself is gone.
Is sync a backup?
No. Sync propagates changes, including deletions and encryption. It is replication, not history. A backup keeps versions of files you no longer have.