5 ms·

As a user paying extra for google storage the constant flow of stories of people having issues with google and nobody to contact scare me. What happens if I loo

As a user paying extra for google storage the constant flow of stories of people having issues with google and nobody to contact scare me. What happens if I loose access to my account and loose gmail/photos/drive. What do people use to backup Google?

Daniel_sk 6y ago
Leave Google, use separate services. I solved it by purchasing my own domain address, moving from Gmail to Fastmail, replaced Android with iOS, replaced Chrome with Firefox, moved my passwords to 1Password, moved from Google Photos to iCloud (it automatically downloads all your pictures to your desktop as backup. There is no such thing for Google Photos).
- StavrosK 6y ago
  I similarly purchased my own domain (an absolutely crucial step for everyone), moved to Fastmail (which I like much better than Gmail, it's just so much faster!), use BitWarden, replaced Chrome with Firefox, and use Nextcloud for photo backup. You can also use rclone to copy your Google Drive to another storage every night.
- jamil7 6y ago
  Did pretty much the same although replace Fastmail with Protonmail. I use S3Glacier storage for backups, costs virtually nothing. I keep the gmail account around as something to hand out to spammy websites and other services or forms IRL.
- Artemix 6y ago
  Almost did the same, except I went towards Syncthing for document sync, KeePassXC for passwords, and Sailfish / degoogled android for mobile phone (because the apple ecosystem is imho much worse, especially in terms of software durability. Got two perfectly working ipads just sitting around because apple said fuck the devs and users. At least, with SOS and android, I can still develop for them).
- cfontes 6y ago
  The problem is that Google Photos is so good, there is nothing out there for free with the same offering. ICloud is extremely limited compared to it without paying ( remember not every one lives in the US and $5 can be a lot of money )
  - tupputuppu 6y ago
    It's understandable that 5$ is a lot to some people. Yet at the same time I hope you do understand the realities of what it costs to take even 15 minutes of a support person's time - how much service can you expect for free or 5$ a month?
- scruffyherder 6y ago
  I moved to Microsoft, but the story is the same. Own your domain name, with that you can go anywhere. Once you become a paying customer the options are so much better and more comprehensive. And owning your domain let’s you do far more flexible things. Rent a VPS, install ftpd. No longer live with San Francisco imposed choices.
Anka33 6y ago
Microsoft seems like a safer option
dmortin 6y ago
You should never have a single backup of anything. Google storage is nice, but you should duplicate everything you put there (also true for any other storage service).
suhastech 6y ago
I was in the exact same position a few years ago. I ended up building an email backup app. https://thehorcrux.com/about/ https://thehorcrux.com/about/
aclelland 6y ago
I download regular backups of my Google data from https://takeout.google.com/ https://takeout.google.com/ it works pretty well. It won't help you keep your email address if Google decide to nuke your account but at least you've still got your emails, photos, etc.
- SamuelAdams 6y ago
  Can confirm, I have used this to grab all my Google Music data before they nuked that. Turns out there's a json file for every single track in your library, and it contains metrics like play count, start / stop position, playlists, etc. Kinda creepy, but in hindsight it's not unexpected.
aceazzameen 6y ago
I use both Google and Dropbox. Photos, for instance, are backed up on both services. Full resolution on Dropbox and whatever resolution on GPhotos. Dropbox is my real backup because it syncs to my PCs, and Photos is my convenient AI searchable backup for when I'm looking for a photo quickly. And since Gmail's inception, I've been using a forwarded pop (edit: I meant imap) address from a custom domain. I've been accessing my forwarded mail through Gmail for 15-ish years now. I remember there's some fiddling in the settings and you have to make sure when you respond to an email that it responds with your custom address. But I've never had an issue all these years, and if Gmail were to drop tomorrow, I still have all my mail.
parliament32 6y ago
I have an automated Google Takeout > AWS Glacier workflow. I'm trying to de-google myself as much as possible though.
chillfox 6y ago
Yeah, it scares me too. I am considering moving to Next Cloud, but for now I am using spanning.com to backup Google drive.
brokenmachine 6y ago
I back it all up from google takeout every now and then. https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout

Daniel_sk 6y ago

Leave Google, use separate services. I solved it by purchasing my own domain address, moving from Gmail to Fastmail, replaced Android with iOS, replaced Chrome with Firefox, moved my passwords to 1Password, moved from Google Photos to iCloud (it automatically downloads all your pictures to your desktop as backup. There is no such thing for Google Photos).

StavrosK 6y ago
I similarly purchased my own domain (an absolutely crucial step for everyone), moved to Fastmail (which I like much better than Gmail, it's just so much faster!), use BitWarden, replaced Chrome with Firefox, and use Nextcloud for photo backup. You can also use rclone to copy your Google Drive to another storage every night.
jamil7 6y ago
Did pretty much the same although replace Fastmail with Protonmail. I use S3Glacier storage for backups, costs virtually nothing. I keep the gmail account around as something to hand out to spammy websites and other services or forms IRL.
Artemix 6y ago
Almost did the same, except I went towards Syncthing for document sync, KeePassXC for passwords, and Sailfish / degoogled android for mobile phone (because the apple ecosystem is imho much worse, especially in terms of software durability. Got two perfectly working ipads just sitting around because apple said fuck the devs and users. At least, with SOS and android, I can still develop for them).
cfontes 6y ago
The problem is that Google Photos is so good, there is nothing out there for free with the same offering. ICloud is extremely limited compared to it without paying ( remember not every one lives in the US and $5 can be a lot of money )
- tupputuppu 6y ago
  It's understandable that 5$ is a lot to some people. Yet at the same time I hope you do understand the realities of what it costs to take even 15 minutes of a support person's time - how much service can you expect for free or 5$ a month?
scruffyherder 6y ago
I moved to Microsoft, but the story is the same. Own your domain name, with that you can go anywhere. Once you become a paying customer the options are so much better and more comprehensive. And owning your domain let’s you do far more flexible things. Rent a VPS, install ftpd. No longer live with San Francisco imposed choices.

Anka33 6y ago

Microsoft seems like a safer option

dmortin 6y ago

You should never have a single backup of anything. Google storage is nice, but you should duplicate everything you put there (also true for any other storage service).

suhastech 6y ago

I was in the exact same position a few years ago. I ended up building an email backup app. https://thehorcrux.com/about/ https://thehorcrux.com/about/

aclelland 6y ago

I download regular backups of my Google data from https://takeout.google.com/ https://takeout.google.com/ it works pretty well. It won't help you keep your email address if Google decide to nuke your account but at least you've still got your emails, photos, etc.

SamuelAdams 6y ago
Can confirm, I have used this to grab all my Google Music data before they nuked that. Turns out there's a json file for every single track in your library, and it contains metrics like play count, start / stop position, playlists, etc. Kinda creepy, but in hindsight it's not unexpected.

aceazzameen 6y ago

I use both Google and Dropbox. Photos, for instance, are backed up on both services. Full resolution on Dropbox and whatever resolution on GPhotos. Dropbox is my real backup because it syncs to my PCs, and Photos is my convenient AI searchable backup for when I'm looking for a photo quickly. And since Gmail's inception, I've been using a forwarded pop (edit: I meant imap) address from a custom domain. I've been accessing my forwarded mail through Gmail for 15-ish years now. I remember there's some fiddling in the settings and you have to make sure when you respond to an email that it responds with your custom address. But I've never had an issue all these years, and if Gmail were to drop tomorrow, I still have all my mail.

parliament32 6y ago

I have an automated Google Takeout > AWS Glacier workflow. I'm trying to de-google myself as much as possible though.

chillfox 6y ago

Yeah, it scares me too. I am considering moving to Next Cloud, but for now I am using spanning.com to backup Google drive.

brokenmachine 6y ago

I back it all up from google takeout every now and then. https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout