I can't imagine depending on Google to store anything. They shouldn't be able to even see what links you save.
- Yeah, this is incredibly intrusive
- As someone who just converted from Chrome to Firefox 1-2 months ago: what alternative can you recommend to Google Drive? I wouldn't miss everything from it, but being able to easily share data (so that they can play videos, audio files or documents without having to manually download them) is one of them.
  
  EDIT: and maybe Google Photos. Mainly for syncing.
  
  Nextcloud has most, if not all, of the features of drive in my experience.
  
  (Don't everyone hit me) the snap version of nextcloud is dead simple to stand up. But if you are adamantly opposed to snap, the docker version is semi-easy to get going. Or you could just spin up a linode instance with it on there for like $5/mo.
  
  This is all a self-hosted/self-responsible option though. So back it up etc.
  
  Thanks for the idea. I'm mainly looking for storage that I could access even if I blow up my house.
  
  This.
  
  I invested in my personal infrastructure a bit. Bought an old retired Dell R710 server for $100, installed proxmox on it. Nextcloud is basically a one-click install using a Turnkey Linux container.
  
  My setup clearly isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve got $100 to spare for some hardware and aren’t afraid of running your own server, proxmox is free and crazy powerful.
  
  For storage, for free options I'd recommend filen.io, which gives you 10GB free. If you're open to other paid options, proton drive and infomaniak drive seem alright.
  
  Just skimming the alternativeto entries for google photos, the open source alternatives to Google photos look like they tend to be either paid or self hosted. Stingle Photos has a free 1GB tier you could try out. Otherwise, paid options include Stingle, ente, and seafile, and self hosted options include immich and Nextcloud (which is also a drive alternative).
  
  Wow, thanks for the detailed answer! I wouldn't mind a paid service as long as it's not significantly more expensive than what Google can offer. However, I'm a bit more conscious regarding data security. I checked on mega.io and I've read mixed opinions.
  
  Depends on how much effort you want to put into it. Nextcloud is the closest in terms of features but you'll need to set it up.
  
  I have a ProtonDrive account and I like it but it doesn't have auto upload of photos. You need to manually upload them. I'm personally fine with this since 90% of my photos are receipts and junk.
  
  I use Sync.com for years (since 2015 after my very privacy heavy swiss cloud service shut down). It's Canadian, the end-to-end encryption (on device,upload and cloud) is the highest I encountered and it's extensive zero-knowledge policy was my reason to sign up.
  
  They added some nice sharing features with quite the extensive control and easy Setup. So might be worth checking out.
  
  And obligatory referral link for a free account 🙃:
  
  https://www.sync.com/?_sync_refer=7265130
  
  Protonmail has smaller cloud storage, but you have to pay for it. A thumb drive will work.
  
  I've switched over to Proton for email, calendar and drive. I still haven't found a replacement for Google Photos but I'm looking for one.
  
  Have you tried iPhoto with Advanced Protection enabled?
  
  Mega.io created by Kim Dotcom is (mostly) open source.
  
  I wouldn't trust anything involving fucking Kim Dotcom lmao
  
  I've read some concerning stuff about him. The usual counterargument was that the source code was still open/public, but I can imagine he could still do nasty stuff to the plain data if he wanted to.
  
  Proton drive gives a lot less storage for free but is known to be more secure and private
  
  Thanks, I will take a look.
- My work, which is supposed to keep things private for customers, stores so much on Gmail and Google Drive. It's comical to me.
  
  What type of company? I, too, find it comical. There was a lot of cloud resistance due to privacy and control issues in financial services years ago. Concerns were justified. Nothing changed except managements' attitudes because "everybody else is doing it".
  
  Oh in our company the CTO still has cloud resistance... But at the same time also feels comfortable sharing sensitive documents over Skype, Outlook and Teams..
  
  Don't want to say, sorry. Let's just say it's more industrial than financial services.

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