Keeping your data private : Affordability & Accessibility

In the last few weeks, I've been seeing a very interesting trend concerning self-hosting.

What if you want to keep your data completely private ? I mean by that, staying in your complete control and not handed over to Google, Apple, ...

But how ? 🤔

1. Buy an external hard drive. No technical skills are required, but it's "just" storage. You don't have the full capabilities offered by services like Google Drive. It's not connected to the internet and therefore only accessible from your computer if you have your drive with you. Also, if you need a lot of storage (for example, if you want to store many videos), you'll need several of them. You also don't have an autosync feature. For example, when you take a picture with your phone, you'll have to manually back it up to your drive.

2. The current solution would be to buy a NAS (Network Attached Storage). It's basically a computer where you can plug multiple hard drives and accessible from the internet. The NAS world has improved a lot and you can install applications on them to do all the features missing in solution 1. However, the issue is that the NAS itself is relatively expensive, and you'll also need to buy hard drives. But which hard drive? How do I access the data on my NAS? This is where it's difficult. The NAS solution requires some technical knowledge and skills.

It seems really cool, but I don't know sh*t about computers 😢

I'm seeing a lot of 'plug & play' solutions coming to the market.
To name a few:
- HexOS : An upcoming operating system from the LTT team (famous tech youtuber)
- ZimaOS/CasaOS : Tries to ease the use of NAS and servers at home. (still a bit techie)
- Umbrel : Also an operating system, also selling the server in itself with a plug & play approach

We will take a look at what Umbrel offers.

Umbrel sells a server for around $400. It's not cheap, but compared to other NAS solutions, it's definitely more affordable. The thing is, you don't have to buy hard drives; it already comes with 2TB of storage. For most people, it's more than enough to store documents, pictures, and movies, as long as you aren't a content creator.

This device comes with UmbrelOS. Its goal is to make it as user-friendly as possible. You plug the device on your internet router, and directly access it from your web browser. From there, you can install apps just like you would on your phone using the integrated app store.

From what we can see on their website, it supports common tools like:
- Nextcloud : great alternative for Google Drive, OneDrive, ... comes with all the tools to edit text documents, powerpoints, and more, and you can invite other people to collaborate.
- Immich : a good alternative for Google Photos. There is a mobile app (Android & iOS) to allow to automatically sync your pictures to your server.
- Home Assistant : alternative for Alexa, allowing you to control all home automation devices you could have in your home

You can check everything that can be installed here https://apps.umbrel.com/

Again it's just an example, most of the apps here can be installed on other competing alternatives.

What I like about all of this is that if you want to exit your data from the GAFAM world, it's now much easier than before. Plug in the device, and install what you need from an app store just like you would on your phone.

Wow ! Sounds great ! But is my data safe ? 🤔

Not quite. It's safe from corporation who loves to sell it to other companies. But it's not safe in case your device breaks down, or your house burns down (yes, an extreme scenario, but unfortunately, it can happen).

We can give credit to GAFAM for the peace of mind they offer. You know that you won't lose all your data in an unfortunate event.

To mitigate this, if you're considering a solution like this, I recommend regularly backing up your data on an external hard drive and storing it at a friend's or parent's house as an 'off-site' backup.

It's the easiest solution, but I may write another article discussing backup solutions and how to set them up automatically, so you don't have to think about it.

And what about e-waste ? 🌿

If you're using GAFAM services, your data is stored in data centers. Data centers aren't inherently bad; it depends on how they manage outdated hardware and how the electricity running them is produced. But, you don't have any control over this.

If you decide to go for dedicated hardware, these devices can run for years, are repairable, and upgradable. You don't have to throw everything if one component breaks down. "Also, you could buy one on the second-hand market.

if you're willing to put in the extra effort, most of the solutions are primarily operating systems, and then, as a bonus for easier setup and peace of mind, they sell a device. But if you have an old computer lying around, or a cheap one that you can buy on eBay, it might do the trick just as well. The setup would be a bit harder but it works.

For what it's worth, I'm glad to see that the process of owning your data is becoming easier and easier, and not exclusively reserved for tech-savvy people. I hope that all of this will become the default choice for everyone in the future.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article, and that it will give you food for thoughts.