TL;DR - On a single ext4 hdd, can I mimic the cool data protection of ZFS?
I have an 8tb hdd connected to an old laptop, and I'm using it as a file server and for self-hosting a few docker apps (navidrome, jellyfin, adguard, etc.) That one hdd is plenty for me, and I keep regular 3-2-1 backups.
The hdd is formatted as ext4. Is there a "best practices" configuration or software setup to ensure healthy data retention on that hdd?
People here rave about zfs, but they often have more sophisticated setups than I do. I started reading about ZFS, and yikes, my first impression is that, for me, it's not worth the steep learning curve. (I'm a busy dad to two young energetic kids!) So what could I do with my existing setup to reduce headaches? Alternatively, is ZFS worth it for a humble home server like mine?