Proxmox Backup Server 3-2-1: USB Removable Datastore (2026)

Your Proxmox backups are only on the local disk — if that drive dies, everything goes with it. In this video we add the first tier of 3-2-1 backup redundancy: a USB removable datastore in Proxmox Backup Server 4.1. Set up in minutes, fully in the web UI, no manual partitioning or fstab. Then we destroy a real container and its backups to prove the USB tier can recover everything. Full written tutorial with screenshots: https://www.localhake.com/content/pbs-321-part-1-usb-removable-datastores Recommended Gear Some links are affiliate links — I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Seagate Portable 2TB External Hard Drive: https://amzn.to/4tGIlyE SanDisk 256GB Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive: https://amzn.to/4sqylZ6 Chapters 0:00 Intro - Why You Need 3-2-1 Backups 1:30 Three-Part Series Overview 2:25 Two USB Backup Workflows 3:25 Identify the USB Drive 4:37 USB Passthrough to the PBS VM 5:13 Initialize GPT and Create Removable Datastore 6:30 Set Up the Pull Sync Job 8:10 Run the First Sync 9:05 Disaster Recovery Demo 12:26 Restore From the USB Tier PBS 3-2-1 Backup Strategy Series Part 1: USB Removable Datastore (this video) Part 2: PBS-to-PBS Pull Sync (coming soon) Part 3: Cloudflare R2 Offsite Cloud Backup (coming soon) #proxmox #homelab #backups #pbs #321backup