Prioritizing Buddy Backup over standard Cloud Backup ?

[zavock]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been thinking about the roadmap lately and I’m a bit confused by the focus on Buddy Backup over "standard" Cloud Backup (Backblaze B2, S3, etc.) with proper snapshot management.

I get that Buddy Backup is the "cool" feature that makes HexOS different from every other NAS OS out there, but I’m struggling to see the logic in prioritizing it right now. HexOS is still brand new, and the user base is obviously still small. Most of us don't actually have "buddies" running HexOS yet, so for the average user today, that feature isn't very useful yet.

On the other hand, almost everyone needs a reliable way to get their data off-site to a professional provider immediately. Having a solid, classic cloud backup integration feels like a "must-have" for any NAS, whereas Buddy Backup feels like something that becomes great once the community is much larger.

I feel like the majority of us would get way more value out of a standard cloud backup feature in the short term even if I agree that buddy backup is the way to go mid-long term.

Am I the only one who feels this way? I’d love to hear what you guys think—maybe I’m missing something about why this is being pushed so hard early on ?

Big shoutout to the dev team, congrats for 1.0 and keep up the great work !

[G-M0N3Y-2503]

I think the reasoning is, if you're paying for cloud storage and happy with it, then you probably wouldn't bother with a NAS. Realistically, cloud alone is probably enough for most people.

So I think they are targeting people who want to own their own data, so "buddy" back up is probably the easiest. 

Marketing aside, it's really just a 2nd license to HexOS you need, the hardware and off-site could be a VM in the cloud if you wanted. 

[zavock]

I get that, but I think a NAS is about much more than just avoiding the cloud. For me, it's about performance and local services that a cloud-only setup can't handle.

I need local storage for things like editing video files directly off the NAS, running Home Assistant, storing security camera footage, and using Cloudflare Zero Trust to access my setup remotely.

That said, I still need a 'Plan B' for my most critical data (like 300GB of Immich and Nextcloud files). This is where the Buddy Backup/VM argument doesn't really work for me. At $6/TB on Backblaze B2, my offsite backup costs next to nothing. Renting a VM with enough storage to act as a Buddy node would be significantly more expensive, plus you have to factor in the additional HexOS license and the time spent managing the VM.

To me, standard Cloud Backup is just the cheapest and most reliable way to protect important data. It’s also arguably more secure and durable than a friend's house or a DIY VM.

But I know we all have a different usage for our NAS, so I'm curious to see how others are planning to handle this.

[Todd Miller]

Hmm.  Try to take this in the nature I mean it but HAVE YOU READ THESE FORUMS?  I bet you can't find five other people calling for cloud storage access.  I'm not saying they don't want it, just they are the silent folks.  The squeaky wheel has hammered the team for local UI, not web access, and buddy backup.  We are going to give Jonp a nervous breakdown if we keep trying to prioritize the next important thing before we even let them finish the core.  I think your question is valid and your overall safety and security is solid but if they did things in the order you wanted there should not have been any work done on applications until the 1.0 NAS was build.  I have agreed with most of the questioning of how thing were done up to now.  And I agree security and backups are critical to the point that needs to be shored up next.  I'm one of the loudest critics this project has but I think it's time to step back, take a breath, let the dust settle and maybe celebrate a little.  There is a forum topic for what apps should be looked at next.  If you have a favorite put it in there.  I might not ever use it but I am not arrogant enough t think my NAS/2 Local/2 Remote backup setup can't be improved or made simpler

 

I'm going to personally step back and say congratulations team.  I'm not in the first group so I haven't seen the 1.0 version but I know it was a lot of work.  Reading through the forums overall, including posts like this, I can see there is still lots of work to do.  And @jonpI am looking forward to shaking my head and second guessing every post like you are going out of your way to make my life more difficult, just like I have for the last year+.  But for now, my hat if off to you.  😌

[zavock]

Just to clarify, I’m definitely not one of the people who has been 'squeaking' or putting pressure on the devs. I actually really appreciate the work they’ve done. My post wasn't meant as a complaint, but rather as a genuine attempt to understand the logic behind the current priorities. I totally get that with the 1.0 release happening right now and all the feedback the team is juggling, the timing of my post might have been poorly interpreted. I apologize if it came across as 'just another demand'—that really wasn't my intent. 

The main reason I brought this up is that an integrated cloud backup (using StorJ/TrueNAS) was actually mentioned in the initial 2024 blog post as a supplement to Buddy Backup. Since I haven't seen much talk about it elsewhere, I just wanted to restart the conversation and see where it stands on the roadmap.

Again, sorry if this was misread. I really like the project and I just want to see it become the best version of itself.

[PsychoWards]

Just my 2 cents, but for me buddy backup is more important, since I have 2 Hexos servers and I can be my very own buddy and I'm not planning on every using a cloud service as storage (smartphone stuff doesn't count, you don't really have much of a choice there 😉 ) 

Additional Buddy Backup was one of the promoted features and there have been quite a few people asking about it since the initial release of the beta.

Cloud backup on the other hand was not really promoted and as @Todd Miller mentioned there were far less requests for it so far. Therefore likely why they prioritised Buddy Backup over cloud storage. 

So from a commercial point of view Buddy Backup is a stronger selling point that sets Hexos appart from other NAS solutions.

I'm not saying that cloud storage support should not be done, but at least this (forum) part of the community is currently more interested in buddy backup. 

[Parachaye]

I think buddy backup priority makes sense since that'd be a major differentiator for hexos compared to other NAS options (including truenas).

Although tbh I don't have the hardware (especially the harddrives) for a second server so I'm not likely to use it until a future upgrade after the AIpocalyse ends. 

I've got Proton drive and just wish they get on with a linux client. Or Hexos VMs release and I can then run a windows VM with proton drive to backup critical docs and pictures.