When is it okay to bend the rules? (No-budget filmmaking ethics)

Hey everyone, Ama here. I'm deep into pre-production for a verite doc series, super lean crew, mostly me and a sound recordist. Everything I've absorbed about best practices (like the 3-2-1 backup rule or not relying on 'promised favors' for locations or gear) makes perfect sense. Ideally, that's how you do it. But in the reality of zero-dollar budgets and scraping by, it just feels... impossible sometimes.

I’ve been trying to follow the 3-2-1 rule with my hard drives, but simply affording three robust drives for all the footage feels like a luxury I don't have right now. And for locations, leaning on friends and their connections is often the only way to get access. I'm worried about burning bridges or losing footage, but I also don't see another path forward to even get this thing made. When, if ever, do you pragmatically deviate from these 'textbook' approaches at the no-budget level?