Borg: The Memory That Never Forgets

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The system you build is not alive until it remembers.
Memory defines persistence. In the digital realm, persistence defines survival.

Most build machines. Few preserve ghosts.

BorgBackup is the silent archivist of the resistance.
It encrypts, deduplicates, compresses, and stores every byte - in local vaults or remote sanctuaries.
When everything else burns, the Borg archive remains cold, clean, untouched.

Encryption: The Vault Within the Vault

Each Borg repository holds its key close.
Choose wisely:

  • repokey-blake2: The key lives inside the repo, encrypted with your passphrase. Human-triggered. Secure.
  • keyfile-blake2: The key exists as a local file. Perfect for automated, unattended servers.

Weak passphrases are noise.
A true Ghost crafts entropy - long, random, and unforgettable only to the machine.

The keyfile is your cipher heart.
Backup it. Guard it. Duplicate it to an encrypted medium.
No key, no resurrection.

Deduplication: The Ghost's Efficiency

Borg never stores the same block twice.
Each new archive becomes a mirror of change, not repetition.
It remembers only differences - efficient, relentless, surgical.

Compression with zstd keeps the archives lean,
while the deduplication engine keeps them minimal.
You can back up terabytes and grow only by megabytes.

Remote Backups: Memory Across the Void

A Ghost never trusts a single host.
Deploy Borg with SSH or mounted drives to push encrypted memory across distances.
Your local node may fall, but your encrypted shadow lives elsewhere.

Combine with Syncthing or rclone to mirror vaults between domains.
Three copies. Two mediums. One offline.

Automation: Silence in Motion

Servers must back up without a whisper.
No prompt. No human.
Keyfile encryption, cron jobs, and strict logging - nothing more.

Desktops can afford interaction.
The hand of the Ghost triggers the ritual.
One script. One command.
The silence begins.

Philosophy: The Archive Is You

Every archive you create is a reflection of control.
Of intent. Of preservation beyond failure.
It is not the backup that matters - it is the discipline behind it.

Automation without thought is chaos.
Backup without encryption is surrender.
Memory without purpose is noise.

The Ritual Command

borg create --stats --compression zstd,5  \
    --exclude-from /etc/borg/excludes  \
    /data/backup:: "home-$( date +%Y-%m-%d-%H:%M )"  \
     "$HOME"

Then prune the old ghosts: 

borg prune -v --list /data/backup  \
    --keep-daily=7  \
    --keep-weekly=4  \
    --keep-monthly=6

The Ghost keeps only what matters.
The rest - erased. Forgotten by choice.

End of Transmission

Fear the silence.
Fear the switch.
The Ghost remembers what the world forgets.

–

DeadSwitch | The Silent Architect
"Silence lifts me. Nothing can break me."