freedom-intelligence/docs/backup-storage-policy.md

Backup storage policy — open-weight model reserve

Status: facility + path pinned (workstation VAULT HD)
Related: INTENT.md, SCOPE.md, inventory/collection-policy.md, docs/decisions/2026-07-24-nas-strategic-reserve.md
Adjacent: disaster-control BackupPolicy (platform backups — different concern)

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Purpose

Define where Freedom Intelligence stores open-weight model blobs (and justified companions), how much capacity we allow, and how this reserve relates to other lab backup facilities.

Git never stores weight tensors. Git stores:

• inventory catalog metadata (inventory/catalog/)
• policies and schemas
• research briefs

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Storage class

Requirement	Policy
Class	Backup / bulk durable storage — not hot cluster PVCs or app disks
Facility	Workstation VAULT HD (D:) under D:\vault\coulomb\ (interim pin 2026-07-28)
Durability	Survives WSL rebuilds; weights live on the VAULT volume, not the git/WSL root
Performance	Sequential read for restore/training pull is enough; low latency not required
Access	Operator and approved lab hosts only; not a public mirror
Separation	Do not co-mingle with age-encrypted operational backups (Forgejo dumps, k3s state) without a clear subdirectory and different lifecycle rules

Platform backup paths such as /opt/backup/railiance/{infra,cluster}/ and ~/.cache/railiance/backups/ are operational recovery lanes. Model weights belong on the VAULT model tree, not on railiance hot disks.

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Target location

Field	Value
Host / facility	Workstation-attached bulk HD VAULT (Windows D:)
Raw capacity	~1.86 TB total (~1.76 TB free as of 2026-07-28 pin)
Base path (Windows)	D:\vault\coulomb\freedom-intelligence\
Base path (WSL, when D: automounted)	/mnt/d/vault/coulomb/freedom-intelligence/
Layout under base	See On-disk layout
Mount on lab hosts	Local attach on operator workstation; WSL via drvfs D: → /mnt/d when enabled
Credentials	Local filesystem ACL on the workstation HD; never commit secrets

Interim note: Earlier policy assumed a dedicated ~1 TB NAS. Operator chose this VAULT volume under D:\vault\coulomb\ for now. Soft quota 850 GiB for the model tree still applies (self-imposed discipline; disk is larger).

Do not bulk-download multi-GB models into this git workspace or into hot root filesystems (/ on WSL, C:).

Path shape (pinned)

D:\vault\coulomb\freedom-intelligence\          # Windows
/mnt/d/vault/coulomb/freedom-intelligence/      # WSL when D: mounted
├── models/
│   └── {org}__{name}/
│       └── {revision}/
│           ├── blobs/          # weight files, shards
│           └── MANIFEST.txt    # optional local copy of hashes
├── companions/                 # adapters, tokenizers only when separate
└── staging/                    # incomplete downloads; not catalog-ready

Map each {org}__{name}/{revision} to an inventory catalog entry.

Directories models/, staging/, and companions/ were created 2026-07-28.

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On-disk layout

Path element	Rule
org__name	Hugging Face-style id with / → __
revision	Git commit SHA, tag, or release id used at download time
blobs/	Actual files; prefer original names from source
staging/	Incomplete transfers; purge or resume; never mark collected until complete + verified

Optional layout tags (directory name or catalog field):

Tag	Meaning
runnable	Fits current run envelope (R tier)
strategic	Capability reserve; may exceed current hardware (S tier)

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Capacity budget

Parameter	Policy
Device	VAULT HD (D:) — model tree under D:\vault\coulomb\freedom-intelligence\
Soft quota (model reserve)	850 GiB (self-imposed; disk is larger)
Hard stop	920 GiB used under the freedom-intelligence base path
Growth review	When catalog total ≥ 70% soft quota (~595 GiB)
Per-pull threshold	See inventory/collection-policy.md
Eviction	Prefer drop W (watch) and easily re-obtained quants; protect unique S SOTA bases and the R spine

Portfolio guidance on 1 TB

• Always keep the runnable spine (R / former P0) resident.
• Use remaining space for a small number of most-capable open models (S),
  preferably well-provenance compressed weights when full precision would exhaust the disk.
• Do not attempt to mirror entire HF orgs.
• Full bf16 of multiple 600B-class models will not fit; prioritize top capability identities.

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Integrity and provenance

For every completed collection:

1. Record source URL and revision in the catalog entry.
2. Store checksums (sha256 of each blob or upstream manifest digest).
3. Record download date (UTC) and downloader identity.
4. Prefer official org releases over anonymous re-uploads.
5. Keep license text or SPDX id in catalog; refuse unclear licenses.

Verification: catalog claims must match on-disk checksums before status collected.

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Retention

Class	Retention
Strategic capability (S)	Keep until explicit deprecation or displacement by a clearly stronger open successor
Runnable spine (R)	Keep while still the lab default for local ops / FT
Working set	Active experiment bases + optional one superseded revision
Staging	Max 14 days incomplete, then purge
Deprecated / evicted	Metadata retained in catalog; blobs may be deleted

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Encryption and offsite

Topic	Policy
At rest	NAS default; extra age/GPG of multi-hundred-GB trees optional
In transit	Trusted lab network / local attach
Offsite copy	Optional later; coordinate with disaster-control if added so model bulk does not break ops backup SLAs

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What must not live here

• Closed weights or artifacts whose terms forbid offline retention
• Secrets, API keys, customer data, or ungoverned training corpora with personal data
• Operational backups (databases, k3s state, Forgejo dumps) as the primary home
• Git LFS dumps of full model trees as a substitute for the NAS

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Operator checklist

• Choose facility: bulk durable storage for model reserve (2026-07-24 intent)
• Set soft quota: 850 GiB / hard stop 920 GiB
• Pin path: D:\vault\coulomb\freedom-intelligence\ (2026-07-28)
• Create models/, staging/, companions/
• Document Windows + WSL path forms above
• Ensure WSL can see D: (/mnt/d) when downloads run from Linux (verified 2026-07-28)

Pin log

Date	Operator	Change
2026-07-24	foundation	Policy created; path unpinned
2026-07-24	operator direction	Facility intent = 1 TB local NAS; soft quota 850 GiB; strategic unrunnable models in scope
2026-07-28	operator direction	Interim pin: workstation VAULT HD D:\vault\coulomb\freedom-intelligence\; layout created; soft quota retained
2026-07-28	operator	WSL mount verified: D: → /mnt/d (1.9T, writable)