usb Automatically backup "every" device

[José Encarnação]

Hi and happy hollidays.

After learning Linus was invested on this software, and understanding how much it takes the load of spending time to make TrueNAS do what developers are doing by coding this software ... and that TrueNAS themselves are invested as well, I'm almost convinced and pressing the Buy button, which I'll do after a bit more research if some requirements are met:

Combined I use Samsung S23 Ultra (android), a Gaming PC (win11), a work laptop (w11) and an iPad Pro (iPadOS). My gf an iPhone 15 and a Macbook M1.

So, I'm interested in backing up (incremental backup, mind you) all those devices by plugin in a cable and little more operation, but also, having my parents, siblings and nephews to remote backup onto an old PC I retired and is gaining dust in the attic, and I'm considering making a RAID 5 NAS for starters.

Is the "backing up devices by pluging-in a cable" a thing in HexOS, or any NAS system for that matter?
(my ignorance says it can't be that difficult if DEVICES are once validated and while nothing changes like a Factory Reset)

Maybe for whom need so, having a 2FA app for "unlocking" the NAS server to allow backing up the connected device?

That's my main concern / interest on having an Incremental Backup solution that is painless and not Hardcore Secure when it comes to input data to backup.

 

Cheers from Portugal, and from what I've searched on the forum, this question wasn't yet put in this terms.

Thanks in advance and happy holidays!

[José Encarnação]

Also ...

Data backup noob here! My goto experience on backups is having multiple HDDs, seperate and offline, and 1TB on OneDrive but not using the sync part... just drag and drop for an faux 3-2-1 best practice.

So, is or will HexOS aim for that?

[PsychoWards]

Hey, 

Backups are done over the local network or Internet (which requires additional setup) and are done using the existing network connection. Using an USB cable to connect to your server is not supported. 

What exactly do you want to backup from your devices? 

There are different ways and apps, depending on what you want to do.

Backing up pictures from your phones (and Mac maybe?) you can use Immich, which is a one click install app in Hexos.

For documents you could use something like paperless, which requires manual loading of the files and is more like a document manager, rather then a simple backup solution.

And there are other solutions to backup every kind of data.

For your family, not living in your house, to be able to backup to your server you need to either setup a VPN or Cloudflare Tunnel or similar. 

Hexos is using ZFS and in ZFS it's called RaidZ1 and not Raid5 🙂

Also please post your specs of your Server which you want to use, this way we can identify possible incompatibilities and issues beforehand and mitigate them. 

[José Encarnação]

On 12/24/2025 at 12:56 AM, PsychoWards said:

Hey, 

Backups are done over the local network or Internet (which requires additional setup) and are done using the existing network connection. Using an USB cable to connect to your server is not supported. 

What exactly do you want to backup from your devices? 

There are different ways and apps, depending on what you want to do.

Backing up pictures from your phones (and Mac maybe?) you can use Immich, which is a one click install app in Hexos.

For documents you could use something like paperless, which requires manual loading of the files and is more like a document manager, rather then a simple backup solution.

And there are other solutions to backup every kind of data.

For your family, not living in your house, to be able to backup to your server you need to either setup a VPN or Cloudflare Tunnel or similar. 

Hexos is using ZFS and in ZFS it's called RaidZ1 and not Raid5 🙂

Also please post your specs of your Server which you want to use, this way we can identify possible incompatibilities and issues beforehand and mitigate them. 

TL;DR - idea for future app to validate devices and files transfers.

So ... my idea of an ideal backup system is a Server Configured to Aknowledge devices for easy input, and having Incremental Backups of selected folders. But I understand that this might be a thing for a distant future, perhaps in a Paid App that validates the device an communicates with the server to update and send files, or perhaps to retreive.

TL;DR - not a clue about hardware yet // is scaling local backups to remote locations a thing?

Anyway, I don't have the hardware just yet, but I'm putting a stop to crappy backups and banking on getting a local and remote access solution in 2026, to stop manually pluging-in drives and the devices to the computer (sometimes having to run dupeGuru after the fact, to trace for unecessary duplicates, setting References and Exclusions), and a backup solution that might scale to remote locations...

TL;DR - will learn before asking more questions // video ideas for Noobs to Pro

As I've said, I need to dig in further to make it good and will try to find simple guides to get it done. Perhaps Linus will make a 1 LTT video with maybe 3 schemes from the simples to the most complex common cases. And from those, 3 videos in high detail to be hosted in your YT page... that's a though.

But I'm gonna get a license tomorrow since I've learnt that this is the way forward.

Thank you for the tips and will dig in with more time in upcomming vacations...

[José Encarnação]

Actually on Reddit, about BitRot I noticed that if you get an AMD 5600XT you can get an ECC compatible Motherboard and RAM and probably make an ECC + bitrot protection system that will keep NAS files uncorrupted.

Any suggestions on cheaper hardware available atm?