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I run Arq Backup automatically in the background. It copy Photos, iCloud files and my mails once every days to S3 with incremental backups. It requires to hav

by mhammerc 10mo ago

I run Arq Backup automatically in the background. It copy Photos, iCloud files and my mails once every days to S3 with incremental backups. It requires to have a full copy locally. Works great! It is not hard to configure once, with the proper folders and settings.

sho 10mo ago
> It requires to have a full copy locally. yeah that's the thing. When my iPhotos library exceeded 1TB I lost the ability to store the full local copies. Since then, iCloud itself has been the sole source. Looks like there's some decent, reasonably priced apps to handle this like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parachute-backup/id6748614170?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parachute-backup/id6748614170?... (no affiliation)
- mh- 10mo ago
  Thanks, I have the same problem and need to do something about it. I wonder if it can calculate (estimate) how big of an external disk I'll need. My wife and I each have 40-50k photos and a few thousand videos in iCloud Photos.
  - b112 10mo ago
    If you want to truly save your photos, make backups of the locals and put it in your safe deposit box at the bank. Or alternatively, at a trusted friend/relative's house. Even doing this yearly can save the immense sadness of lost memories. And of course, this works for emails, and everything else. If you encrypt it, make sure you use a method not tied to any external service, or the machine you're on. I don't use Apple, yet I suspect that an encrypted external backup might be tied to your Apple ID, or some such, because that's how the world flies today.
    - mh- 10mo ago
      Yeah, the plan would be external disk -> offsite storage. I wouldn't bother to encrypt, it's just family photos and I wouldn't want to complicate restores. Especially if it was my wife who eventually needed to use it.
      - subscribed 10mo ago
        To anyone who reads it: actually A HARD FISK, not a pendrive/SSD
  - beala 10mo ago
    On my iPhone, I can see the size of my iCloud photo backups. Settings -> Apple Account -> iCloud -> Storage. Weirdly, that number is different than Immich’s estimate of my photo library (95 GB vs 150 GB), but perhaps good enough to get you in the ballpark.
    - mh- 10mo ago
      Oh yes, of course. Thank you. 422 GB. Looks like my wife has slightly more.
- leoxiong 10mo ago
  You can request an archive of all your data (including photos and drive) in 25gb chunks. https://support.apple.com/en-us/102208 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102208
- mikepurvis 10mo ago
  I recently rebuilt my home server as an unraid machine. Currently it’s mainly torrents and a Minecraft server but it’s got 10tb of locally redundant storage with a sightline to scale that to around 24tb, so it would be a logical place to store a full gphotos copy.
- Timshel 10mo ago
  10TB external harddrives are relatively affordable.

sho 10mo ago

> It requires to have a full copy locally. yeah that's the thing. When my iPhotos library exceeded 1TB I lost the ability to store the full local copies. Since then, iCloud itself has been the sole source. Looks like there's some decent, reasonably priced apps to handle this like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parachute-backup/id6748614170?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/parachute-backup/id6748614170?... (no affiliation)

mh- 10mo ago
Thanks, I have the same problem and need to do something about it. I wonder if it can calculate (estimate) how big of an external disk I'll need. My wife and I each have 40-50k photos and a few thousand videos in iCloud Photos.
- b112 10mo ago
  If you want to truly save your photos, make backups of the locals and put it in your safe deposit box at the bank. Or alternatively, at a trusted friend/relative's house. Even doing this yearly can save the immense sadness of lost memories. And of course, this works for emails, and everything else. If you encrypt it, make sure you use a method not tied to any external service, or the machine you're on. I don't use Apple, yet I suspect that an encrypted external backup might be tied to your Apple ID, or some such, because that's how the world flies today.
  - mh- 10mo ago
    Yeah, the plan would be external disk -> offsite storage. I wouldn't bother to encrypt, it's just family photos and I wouldn't want to complicate restores. Especially if it was my wife who eventually needed to use it.
    - subscribed 10mo ago
      To anyone who reads it: actually A HARD FISK, not a pendrive/SSD
- beala 10mo ago
  On my iPhone, I can see the size of my iCloud photo backups. Settings -> Apple Account -> iCloud -> Storage. Weirdly, that number is different than Immich’s estimate of my photo library (95 GB vs 150 GB), but perhaps good enough to get you in the ballpark.
  - mh- 10mo ago
    Oh yes, of course. Thank you. 422 GB. Looks like my wife has slightly more.
leoxiong 10mo ago
You can request an archive of all your data (including photos and drive) in 25gb chunks. https://support.apple.com/en-us/102208 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102208
mikepurvis 10mo ago
I recently rebuilt my home server as an unraid machine. Currently it’s mainly torrents and a Minecraft server but it’s got 10tb of locally redundant storage with a sightline to scale that to around 24tb, so it would be a logical place to store a full gphotos copy.
Timshel 10mo ago
10TB external harddrives are relatively affordable.