What type of password protected file/folder backup format, or method, is good to increase recovery chances (not breaking the whole backup) from hardware corruption or from file transfer corruption (from one storage to another or copying/moving backups within an OS). I understand that the condition of the hardware is very important but I want to see what we can do on software level to at least have some better chances at recovery when something happens.
Using RAR archives with recovery records? Does compression settings matter? Store, Fastest, Best, etc.
Whole disk encryption on the backup drive? (Or a partition to also have easy access to other files)
Is there any reason to use a backup program for this purpose? They also put all files into one single file, with or without compression, is it any different than a rar/7zip/zip file? Maybe something about processing metadata and chances of recovery?