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

Secure, climate-controlled HDD colocation in Austria. Host your physical SATA/SAS hard drives and access them via S3, Syncthing, or contact us for a custom service. Professional offsite backup solutions for Europe starting at €16,67/month.  
[HDD-Housing.eu](https://hdd-housing.eu/ "HDD-Housing.eu")

# 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](https://f.hdd-housing.eu/forms/1ce72cab-423a-4f88-abfe-a279eed76578) or via the Contact Form on our [Homepage](https://hdd-housing.eu/).
- **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).