HDD-Housing e.U.: Private Offsite Backup & HDD (Hard Disk Drive) Colocation

• Welcome to HDD-Housing: Secure Offsite Backup
• Why Choose HDD Colocation Over Cloud Storage?
• Supported Protocols: S3 Storage & Syncthing
• Network Performance & Traffic
• Preparing and Shipping Your HDD
• Monitoring, Security & GDPR

Welcome to HDD-Housing: Secure Offsite Backup

Welcome to HDD-Housing e.U.

HDD-Housing is a specialized Online Colocation Service for Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) based in Austria, founded in 2022. We provide a secure, climate-controlled, and high-speed server environment for your physical backup hard drives.

Unlike traditional cloud storage where you pay for capacity (GB/TB), with us, you own the hardware. This makes our service one of the most cost-effective solutions for large-scale data sets in Europe.

Key Benefits:

• Data Sovereignty: You own the disk; we provide the power, cooling, and connectivity.

• Location: Servers are located in the Graz area, Austria, ensuring strict EU data protection.

• Flexibility: Use your own 3.5” or 2.5” SATA or SAS drives with no storage capacity limit.

• Ransomware Protection: Server-side snapshots provide an immutable layer of security for your backups.

Why Choose HDD Colocation Over Cloud Storage?

HDD Colocation vs. Traditional Cloud Storage

For users with 12TB, 20TB, or 100TB+ of data, traditional "Big Tech" cloud providers become prohibitively expensive.

The Colocation Advantage:

1. Fixed Costs: Your monthly fee remains €20 regardless of whether your drive is 2TB or 22TB.

2. Fast Disaster Recovery: If you experience a total data loss at home, we can physically mail your HDD back to you. This is significantly faster than downloading 20TB over a standard internet connection.

3. No Egress Fees: We do not charge you "per GB" to access or download your own data.

4. Physical Ownership: You retain the asset. If you stop the service, you get your hardware back.

Supported Protocols: S3 Storage & Syncthing

Connecting to Your Offsite Backup

We offer two primary methods to access your hosted hard drive remotely.

1. S3 (Object Storage)

Using VersityGW, we provide an S3-compatible endpoint. This allows you to integrate your HDD with almost any modern backup software, including:

• Synology HyperBackup

• Duplicati / Duplicity

• Restic / Rclone

• Kopia

• Proxmox Backup Server

2. Syncthing

For users who prefer continuous file synchronization, we support Syncthing. This is ideal for keeping folders mirrored between your home/office and our secure data center in real-time.

Network Performance & Traffic

Network Speed and Bandwidth Limits

Our facility is equipped with high-speed fiber connectivity to ensure your backups run smoothly.

• Backup Speed (Upload to us): Up to 1 Gbit/s.

• Restore Speed (Download from us): Currently limited to approximately 80 Mbit/s.

• Physical Restore: For "Disaster Recovery," mailing the physical HDD is the fastest option.

• Traffic Policy: We include a fair-use policy. If traffic exceeds 1TB per month, we reserve the right to apply traffic shaping (lower prioritization) to ensure fair access for all customers.

Preparing and Shipping Your HDD

Getting Started: Hardware & Shipping

To begin the service, you must provide your own hard drive.

1. Prepare Your Drive

We recommend pre-loading (seeding) your initial backup onto the drive at home. This saves you weeks of upload time.

• Supported Sizes: 3.5” and 2.5” drives.

• Supported Interfaces: SATA and SAS.

2. Shipping to Austria

Please pack your HDD securely in anti-static bags and bubble wrap.

• Shipping Address: Provided upon sign-up or via the Contact Form on our Homepage.

• Shipping Costs: The customer pays for shipping to us. If you cancel within the first 6 months due to dissatisfaction, we cover the return shipping.

Monitoring, Security & GDPR

Security, Health Monitoring, and Privacy

Health Monitoring (Grafana)

Every customer receives access to a Grafana Dashboard. You can view:

• S.M.A.R.T. values (Hard drive health status).

• Disk usage statistics for the last 365 days.

• Email alerts in the event of an HDD error or predicted failure.

Data Privacy (GDPR)

We are an Austrian company (e.U.) and comply strictly with GDPR (DSGVO).

• Zero Knowledge: We strongly encourage Client-Side Encryption. If you encrypt your data before sending it, we have zero access to your files.

• No Third-Party Sharing: Your data is never sold or shared with third parties, except for essential contract fulfillment (e.g., shipping companies for returns).