The 3-2-1 backup rule: why your self-hosted Immich needs it

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every week someone on r/immich posts some version of the same message. The drive died, the RAID did not rebuild, or a container update went wrong, and now the library is gone. Most of these people had something they thought of as a backup. It turned out to be a second copy sitting right next to the first one.

When you self-host Immich, you are the backup department. Nobody else is going to do it for you. The good news is that the rule for doing it properly has been around for decades, and it fits in one line.

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The 3-2-1 backup rule: why your self-hosted Immich needs it