Own your data: A Journey to Self File Hosting
Why I started hosting my own files?
First, let’s look at why we need to host files in the cloud. Managing files in the cloud has become a must for my daily workflows and productivity. Services like Dropbox makes this easy. Having a cloud solution helps with keeping all the files I create every day in sync and accessible on all my devices. No more emailing yourself to get the file you are working on to another computer. Another benefited is you have a backup of our data if any one of your devices failed.
Dropbox
I first started using Dropbox because Linux was supported nativity. This is important because I use both Ubuntu and Windows to sync files between the two operating systems. Why did I start thinking about self-hosting my files? Soon after Dropbox went public on the stock market things started to change to their service. I first notice the change when they dropped support for all Linux filesystems except the unencrypted ext4. I get from a business point of view Linux is their smallest user base. Then they changed their pricing and options for individuals. I’m happy with their Basic Free plan since I was not using a lot of data and was just storing mostly text files. What changed that affected my use of Dropbox is now it’s limited to only 3 devices. I’m not able to add another device. I looked at the paid version called Plus which cost $9.99 for 2TB and unlimited devices. I had no plans to use anywhere near 2 TB of data. With the news of concerns of the big cloud providers on how they are using your data. This all added for me to start thinking about taking back my data.
Self Hosting
I’m a software developer and like setting up services to run my own code why can’t I host my own files. Started doing research and hosting a VM on the internet has become inexpensive. Less than a Netflix subscription I can get a virtual machine on the internet from DigitalOcean. I found a open source software called Nextcloud and started to play with it on my local desktop computer.
With some clicks, I created a VM on DigitalOcean, installed and setup Nextcloud in my new VM. Then installed Nextcloud on all my devices and started moving my data from Dropbox.
Results
It’s been over 2 months and I am happy with the results. My self hosted Nextcloud environment is now part of my daily productive workflow. I do have the added steps of maintaining and keeping my server updated but now control my data. Plus the added benefit of learning something new. I will be also looking at the other features of NextCloud for example their project management tools.