This week’s goal
Create a backup routine before adding more services.
This felt slightly dull, which is usually a sign it is important.
What I actually did
I made a simple list of what actually mattered:
- service configuration
- media server settings
- notes and scripts
- important files
- anything I would not enjoy recreating from memory
Then I set up a local backup copy and wrote down the restore path.
The key step was not the backup. It was checking whether I could get something back from it.
What broke, or nearly did
I discovered that some important configuration lived in places I had not written down.
This was not a technical failure. It was a documentation failure wearing a small hat and pretending to be infrastructure.
What I’m keeping
- A written list of important paths
- Local backup first
- Restore test before trusting it
- No more “I’ll remember where that is”
SmallGrid takeaway
A backup you have never restored from is not a backup. It is a comforting bedtime story for your server.