Understanding the 3-2-1-1-0 Backup Strategy

Author: Swapna Naraharisetty, 2BrightSparks Pte. Ltd.

Data and file backup is a critical aspect of modern IT environments. It has become essential for computer users, system administrators, Information Security professionals, and organizations to regularly back up their critical data to protect against loss, corruption, or other unexpected events. However, relying on a single backup location is insufficient to ensure the safety and availability of important data.

To address this risk, the adoption of the 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy is strongly recommended, as it enhances data resilience and significantly improves the ability to recover quickly from data loss or corruption.

TL;DR

The 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy is the modern standard for comprehensive data protection, requiring three total copies of your data stored on two different media types with one copy offsite, one copy offline or immutable to protect against ransomware, and zero errors through regular verification. SyncBackPro/SE makes implementing this strategy straightforward by enabling automated backups to multiple destinations including cloud storage with immutability features like Backblaze B2 Object Lock, rotational USB drives for air-gapped offline storage, and built-in verification tools to ensure your backups are always reliable and recoverable when needed.

3-2-1-1-0 Backup rule

Have 3 copies of your data (1 Primary and 2 backups).

Save 2 backup copies at 2 different locations (external drive, NAS/Network drives, FTP, Cloud etc.).

Keep 1 backup offsite (Cloud, FTP etc.).

Store 1 copy offline, air-gapped, or in an immutable format (i.e., cannot be changed easily).

Ensure 0 errors by performing regular backup verification.

Implementing 3-2-1-1-0 Backup rule using SyncBack

SyncBackPro/SE enables you to easily implement the 3-2-1-1-0 backup rule in both business and home environments, reducing the risk of data loss by maintaining multiple redundant copies of your data across different storage locations.

Have 3 Copies of Your Data

With three total copies of your data (your primary data plus two backup copies), you greatly improve the chance of recovery and protect your data against different types of technology failures or environmental hazards.

You can accomplish this easily in SyncBackPro/SE by creating two backup profiles, each with the Source pointing to the location where your primary data is stored and the Destination pointing to two different backup locations (such as an internal drive, NAS drive, external hard drive, Cloud, FTP, SyncBack Touch, etc.).

Next, put the profiles into a group and run the group to create two backup copies of your primary data, resulting in three total copies. This can be fully automated by scheduling the group to run periodically, for example every day at 7pm.

Save 2 Backup Copies at 2 Different Locations

If you save your primary data and its backup copies in the same location (for example, on different drives on the same computer), and that computer crashes or is infected by malware, you could lose both your primary data and your backups at the same time. To reduce the risk of a single event destroying multiple copies, it is recommended to store two backup copies in two different locations.

With SyncBackPro/SE, you can achieve this by configuring two backup profiles, each with a different Destination path. For example, the destination for the first profile could be an internal or external drive, while the destination for the second profile could be a NAS device, FTP server, or cloud storage. This ensures your backup copies are stored separately, improving resilience and recoverability.

Keep 1 Backup Offsite

If you keep your primary data and all backup copies in the same building or room, a fire, accident, or theft could result in the loss of all your data. For this reason, physical separation between copies is critical, and it is strongly recommended to store at least one backup copy off-site (for example, in the cloud or on an FTP server located away from where your primary data and local backups are stored).

You can use SyncBackPro/SE to back up data to an off-site FTP, FTPS server, or a remote SyncBack Touch server.

Alternatively, you can use SyncBackPro to back up files to an off-site SFTP server or cloud storage service, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Azure, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft 365 (OneDrive for Business and SharePoint), or SugarSync. Hint: cloud backup solutions are much more affordable than they used to be!

Store 1 copy offline, air-gapped, or in an immutable format

When backup copies remain online and continuously accessible, they are vulnerable to ransomware encryption or deliberate deletion. To reduce this risk, organizations should maintain at least one backup copy that is offline (air-gapped) or stored in an immutable format. This ensures that, even if primary systems and other backups are compromised, a clean and untampered backup remains available.

SyncBackPro supports secure off-site backups to Backblaze B2, which offers Object Lock immutability. When Object Lock is enabled, backed-up files cannot be modified or deleted until a specified retention date/version expires. For details on enabling Object Lock for an existing Backblaze B2 bucket, refer to the Backblaze documentation. Once Object Lock is activated, you can create a Backblaze profile in SyncBackPro to back up files to the immutable bucket.

SyncBackPro/SE can also be used to create air-gapped backups using rotational USB drives for offline storage. To implement this, assign the same volume label to each USB drive using Windows File Explorer. Then, create a backup profile in SyncBackPro/SE and use the variable %LABEL% in the destination path, allowing the profile to automatically target any USB drive with the matching label. Enable the Auto-Eject feature under Misc > Media Settings so the drive is safely disconnected after each backup completes. Finally, schedule the profile to run automatically at your preferred intervals. This approach ensures backups remain offline between runs, significantly reducing the risk of malware infection or accidental modification.

Ensure 0 errors Through Regular Backup Verification

Backups should be reviewed regularly to identify and resolve any issues promptly, ensuring the ongoing reliability of protected data. In addition, periodic restore tests are essential to confirm that data can be successfully recovered and that its integrity remains intact.

SyncBack supports this requirement through detailed logging, as well as built-in Verification and Integrity Check features that ensure files are copied correctly and remain unaltered. By reviewing logs, enabling verification options, and periodically performing test restores and integrity checks, you can be confident that your backup data is accurate, reliable, and recoverable when needed.

Conclusion

One backup alone is no longer enough to protect valuable data. With SyncBackPro/SE, home users, businesses, and organizations can easily implement the 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy, strengthening data protection and ensuring fast, reliable recovery from data loss, hardware failures, or catastrophic events.

To learn more about implementing the 3-2-1-1-0 strategy with SyncBackPro/SE, contact us today or visit 2BrightSparks.