diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 4371c51..6f57b01 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # flake for blakes nixos config
 # define new devices in outputs
-# generation: 374, timestamp: 2025-10-12 18:59:25
+# generation: 375, timestamp: 2025-10-12 19:19:04
 {
   description = "blakes nix config";
   inputs = {
diff --git a/modules/system/backups.nix b/modules/system/backups.nix
index 3675f47..abade99 100644
--- a/modules/system/backups.nix
+++ b/modules/system/backups.nix
@@ -27,9 +27,6 @@ in
       default = {};
       description = "backup jobs, nested attribute sets should be <bak_name> = paths [<list_of_paths>]";
     };
-    paths = lib.mkOption {
-      type = lib.types.list;
-    };
     repo = lib.mkOption {
       type = lib.types.path;
       default = "/holocron/borg";
@@ -40,6 +37,11 @@ in
       default = sec."borg_passwd".path;
       description = "borg repository passphrase file";
     };
+    mode = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.string;
+      default = "split";  # "all"
+      description = "choice between creating one archive of all paths or one archive per service";
+    };
   };
 
   config = lib.mkIf (cfg.enable && cfg.baks != {}) {
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ in
           export BORG_PASSPHRASE="$(cat ${cfg.passwd_file})"
           export BORG_REPO="${cfg.repo}"
           timestamp="$(date +'%Y-%m-%d_%H:%M:%S')"
-          mode=sep
+          mode=${cfg.mode}
 
           # init repo in needed
           if ! borg info "$BORG_REPO" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ in
 
           echo "starting backup at $timestamp"
 
-          if [ "$mode" = "sep" ]; then
+          if [ "$mode" = "split" ]; then
             # loop for each backup
             ${lib.concatStringsSep "\n\n" (lib.mapAttrsToList (bak_name: bak_paths:
               ''
@@ -91,9 +93,9 @@ in
                 --keep-weekly=52 \
                 --keep-monthly=-1
               echo "backup run complete at \"$BORG_REPO::$archive\""
-              exit 0
               ''
             ) cfg.baks)}
+              exit 0
           else
           # flatten all paths from cfg.baks into one big list
             all_paths="${