Let's build a cloud

This is mostly a thought exercise, but may come to fruition 

I have no interest in Google photos, Amazon photos, or any of the other insecure non localized backup solutions. I will soon have a phone without an SD card slot. So I have a storage problem.

But

I have a windows 10 pc with room for a few more hard drives, I only need one Android device backed up, and it's all connected via 5ghz 802.11AC wireless network.

Could I get away with using Windows link to phone feature? Yea probably, haven't really investigated that, and I like to do things the hard way.

So what would be the best home brew way to sync folders of pictures between android 10 phone and windows 10 pc on a local Wi-Fi network?

Let's assume $1000 budget for software and spare hard drives. Clearly cheaper is better. Security isn't so much a concern as long as it stays on the local network.

I will NOT need access from outside the home.

Dropbox account and spend the time doing something fun instead. 
 

They have apps for pcv and smartphones so you can have them automatically backup pics and/or files I'm pretty sure. 
 

I know it's not what you want to hear but it's the easy button. 

I use OneDrive.

No. I want my data staying with me, not with some other company.

It's not technically a "cloud" if it's onsite. 

That's all cloud computing. Instead of having an inhouse IT guy and networks, all your data and programs are in a warehouse somewhere and you access it using the web and a VPN vs a local network.

Do what strizzo said, you're way overthinking and attempting to WAY overspend for a very easy problem.

Throw a couple of hard drives in a RAID config in your existing machine and setup something like this.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-backup-android-phone-to-pc-4769775

Fact is, if you're using a smartphone they have your data anyway. You aren't a terrorist, international spy, gun runner, or drug dealer, so they really don't care about your data past giving you targeted ads.

I got a Western Digital My Cloud from Woot, I think, and it will do what you want.My Cloud Home from WD.  There is an app for your phone and it will sync your photos to the box in your house.  You can also access your photos through the app from anyplace you have service.

In reply to z31maniac :

It's not even so much that I care about privacy, I just don't like the stuff that's available.

What I'd really like is to just use the PC as the default storage for the phone camera. Well no, I'd like the new NOT WATERPROOF phone to have a memory card slot, but since that isn't happening...

I just don't like the existing stuff. Microsoft has always been lackluster at best, Google already has all my E36 M3 but compresses everything too much, Dropbox wss always problematic for me in the past to the point I won't use it now. 

In reply to RevRico :

Fair enough. That link I shared should be able to do what you want, if you have the drive space now you don't really need to do much. Heck, you could just get a USB hard drive and spend very little.

I will say I'm pretty happy with using my Gmail account to keep my phone, contacts, pics, etc, all backed up. Since I still use a Pixel 2, every 4-6 months, I blow it away and reinstall everything from fresh to keep it running nicely. Never had an issue getting anything back or being to find it when necessary.

In reply to z31maniac :

I'm getting the pixel 4a in the next week or so. 128 GB of storage on device is not promising to me.

The bigger issue is going to be giving up the "carry around 15 years of pictures videos music and files" I've gotten so used to having immediate on the fly access to even without cell service or internet. 

I don't like change like that, but I need a different phone because this moto g7 doesn't like Fi even though it's a Fi phone. 

In reply to RevRico :

Ahh yes. I forgot that you don't have good cell service where you are. The only suggestion I have is culling down what you actually NEED on you at all times. I have pics auto backed up to the Google account (you can't do this on the cell, but could every night when you get home) and the only other thing I have is some Spotify playlists so I can use them in the car without using cell data.

RevRico said:

this moto g7 doesn't like Fi even though it's a Fi phone. 

Are you sure its the phone and not Fi?

I have Fi and a Moto X4 and at least one of them really sucks.

z31maniac said:

You aren't a terrorist, international spy, gun runner, or drug dealer, so they really don't care about your data past giving you targeted ads.

Curious. Amongst us, people who are those things, do they announce it publicly? Asking for a friend. 

mr2s2000elise said:

z31maniac said:

You aren't a terrorist, international spy, gun runner, or drug dealer, so they really don't care about your data past giving you targeted ads.

Curious. Amongst us, people who are those things, do they announce it publicly? Asking for a friend. 

Hahaha! So now we now where the fun money for the cars comes from!

Just saying I see so many people (not OP) worried about being tracked (while using a smartphone and social media) and my first thought is, "You are a horrifically boring suburbanite, what could possibly make you think the government or anyone else is interested in tracking you?"

ProDarwin said:

RevRico said:

this moto g7 doesn't like Fi even though it's a Fi phone. 

Are you sure its the phone and not Fi?

I have Fi and a Moto X4 and at least one of them really sucks.

Like 90% certain. I got Dana the same phone for Xmas, and we can be in the same place, I will have no service at all and she'll be fine. Even places that have known good Sprint and t mobile lte magically have none for me anymore. It's gotten progressively worse over the last 2 months, to the point where I can't even use my GPS because it can't load the map, or Pandora will take a full 40 minute car ride to change songs.

The 10% I'm not sure it's just the phone is that at home, no one but Verizon customers have service, so we rely on doing everything over the Wi-Fi. I get/make calls, occasionally have trouble sending or receiving texts (like 12 hour delay of a message, even if it's part of a flurry of messages), but her phone has just been going to voicemail. She can call out and text and whatever, but her phone won't ring. That I suspect is the phone turning the Wi-Fi off with the screen, but I haven't really investigated because it's not a big problem. 

Still, current Fi offerings are limited. 

In reply to RevRico :

I'm going with phone as well. I have a Pixel 2 and Fi, my girlfriend has a recent iPhone on TMobile............which you know Fi uses their network. My phone consistently has coverage when her's does not.

So something like Owncloud?

You could even power it with an RPi.

And a fancy multidrive enclosure.

If you want to go cheaper Nextcloud is open source.

z31maniac said:

 

Just saying I see so many people (not OP) worried about being tracked (while using a smartphone and social media) and my first thought is, "You are a horrifically boring suburbanite, what could possibly make you think the government or anyone else is interested in tracking you?"

 

I've begrudgingly accepted that "digital privacy" does not and can not exist in the world anymore.I just wish there had been a bigger fight to save it. Or that people got mad about it instead of the people that exposed it. But that's another topic. 

I can just as easily keep using a USB 3 cable and deleting stuff as I pull and post it, just looking to skip a step. USB 3 would probably be quicker than wireless, but it would be nice if they could transfer in real time

I'm going to have to take and edit tons of pictures as the new business grows, and truthfully a standalone camera would be the better tool for the job, but it's not in the cards right now. 

In reply to RevRico :

The USB might be quicker, but if you could set it to automatically update when connected to WiFi, you could get home, let it do it's thing while you make dinner, relax, etc.

Quick Google search shows a few options for FreeNAS Android plugins.

I've been using FreeNAS for the better part of a decade, it's hardware agnostic, runs from a USB thumb drive, as long as the data is on the drives you can upgrade as needed.

I got 4 refurbished 1 TB WD enterprises drives off Amazon back when 1 TB was a lot, and the current iteration is using a soldered-on-board, low power quad core Celeron, ITX motherboard with Gigabit Ethernet and an add-on SATA PCIe board.

Shows up as a storage device to everything on my network new enough for DLNA and works adequate as a Plex media server.  There's room for improvement for Plex auto fetching thumbnails, labeling and categorizing media, but it's still all there, if not labeled right.

For a second, I thought that this was going to be about making a GRM database of info and got real happy.

Was going to suggest owncloud/nextcloud but the0retical got there first.  No point in building your own when its already available.

RevRico said:

No. I want my data staying with me, not with some other company.

I'm totally with you.

I am stupid when it comes to computers and networking, but I ended up with a Synology DS118 which is a cheaper version of MyCloud.  I am stuffing it with an 8TB drive.  It's basically a little box that has all the hardware and software to make it a cloud server, media server, etc.  Total cost was about $170 for the box and $150 for the drive.  I haven't hooked it up yet (bigger fish to fry as I currently have no subfloor in my house)