Lately I started using borg backup for backing up data from different servers and am amazed by its features (deduplication, encryption, etc...).
Currently I am looking for a good method of archiving larger amounts of data (multiple GB of mixed data, partially containing duplicates) over a longer time frame. The data should be stored as efficiently as possible regarding disk space usage and encryption is desired. However, it should be easily accessible, e.g. via mounts (read-only is sufficient). This question is not about backups, as the archived data will be stored on a machine that is regularly backed-up by itself.
One option would be tar/bzip2 as an "old school way" to create archives and encrypting them using gpg. However, no deduplication is possible and AFAIK there is no option to mount such encrypted archives without decrypting the whole amount of data and using archivemount afterward. This is what I would like to avoid.
LUKS-encrypted container files are more flexible, but I am not sure how to easily implement deduplication here (probably using a suitable FS/hard links?). Also root privileges are needed for mounting them, which I also would like to avoid.
I thought about borg being useful for this purpose, as it allows for creating repos/archives that are
- encrypted
- deduplicated
- compressed
- mountable with user privileges
- can easily be transferred
Still, right now I am a bit hesitant:
- in my understanding the original purpose of borg is running regular backups
- borg creates local caches on client machines which are maintained, but not essential for accessing repos/archives (unnecessary)
- I usually prefer the most "fundamental" ways of structuring data for long-term storage to ensure accessibility (reverse compatibility with newer versions of the archiving tools)
- how susceptible are borg repos to data corruption?
Are there any opinions on this use case from more experience borg users (or any suggestions regarding alternatives)?