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Local Backup Setup: Obsidian Backup Strategy

Detailed configuration of Obsidian's Local Backup plugin for protecting knowledge vaults.

📌 Purpose

🔙 Main context: This guide is part of the architecture documented in the Infrastructure MOC.

Create a local and cloud-based containment layer against accidental deletion, file corruption, and cascading synchronization errors, such as a failure in Syncthing or Dropbox. The system automatically captures compressed .zip snapshots of the Obsidian vault.

⚙️ Tool

  • Community plugin: Local Backup

📁 Storage Path

  • Output path (macOS/Hackintosh): /Users/jd/My Drive/99_Archive/Obsidian_Backups
  • Why this path:
    1. It is outside the primary vault, which prevents recursive backup and synchronization loops.
    2. It points to the local Google Drive directory, so a local backup is also uploaded off-site without an additional manual step.
  • Reference vault size: approximately 45 MB as of February 2026.

🛠️ Exact Plugin Configuration

Use the following settings when reproducing this configuration.

Triggers

  • Backup once on startup: ON — creates a backup when Obsidian opens.
  • Backup once on quit: ON — creates a backup when Obsidian closes.
  • Interval backups: ON — enables scheduled background backups.
    • Backup frequency: 240 minutes, or every four hours.

Retention

  • Backup history length: 15 days before a ZIP is eligible for removal.
  • Backups per day: 3 or 4 ZIP files at most.

Format and Output

  • Linux/macOS output path: /Users/jd/My Drive/99_Archive/Obsidian_Backups
  • File name: {vaultName}-Backup-%Y_%m_%d-%H_%M_%S
  • Excluded directories: .git, .trash, node_modules

Interface and Notifications

  • Show ribbon icon: ON — allows a manual backup from the sidebar.
  • Show notifications: ON — confirms visually that a ZIP was created.
  • Show console logs: OFF.
  • External file archiver backup: OFF — use the plugin’s internal archiver.
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