Hi Di Ablo & welcome to MoS!
Just read through your posts & will be keen to see how your journey unfolds. You have a great mindset & approach to achieve what you seek.
On your question regarding the Bathmate/Mity-Vac, I own & use a BM x40, I would personally go the Mity-Vac, as you have all the benefits of water pumping, the handball (only comes on the more $$$ models of BM) to dispell water which allows finer control of the pressure & it's a lower price point for those features mentioned in comparison. I've found that the BM has too much 'negative space' and something that's narrower with a straight profile would be more ideal, could be that the grass is greener I guess? but I'll be getting one myself soon for sure.
Bear with the forum, this is only temporary, there is a wealth of info here & ppl are more than willing to share their knowledge if asked.
As for the back ups, definitely keep a record of your daily efforts in your phones notepad & take regular pics, you have the unique opportunity to document from day dot & being able to look back will be of tremendous benefit & motivation to you & potentially others if you so choose to share down the track. I got hit with a double whammy, lost all my progress pics in my log on here and also my phone had a total meltdown & I wasn't able to recover the files from it. Guess I'll just have to create more haha.