DanKhramov

Last winter I moved family photos off Google Photos to Immich on an old Dell Optiplex 7040 in the closet (Proxmox, Immich, Nextcloud, Matrix). Main reason was Google One kept getting more expensive.

Tech part works. Immich is great, Nextcloud is fine.

People part doesn't. My wife uses it because she has to, but she still brings up January when I almost lost a month of kid photos due to no real backup. My sister is still on Messenger, my mom is on iCloud, so my Matrix server is mostly just me and wife.

I have backup now (USB + B2) and cost is lower than Google One, but time cost is higher and family adoption is low.

For those who self-host for family — how did you actually get them to switch and stick? Did you force it, make it invisible, bribe with something, or just accept that they will stay on Google / Messenger / iCloud?

What worked for you with non-technical family?

Last winter I finally moved family photos off Google Photos. Not for ideology, just tired of Google One getting more expensive every year.

Hardware: old Dell Optiplex 7040 (i5-6500, 16GB, 1TB SSD + 4TB HDD) in the bedroom closet, running Proxmox. LXC with Immich for photos, Nextcloud for docs, and Matrix for family chat.

It was messy. I set up Immich, told family it's done, but forgot to set up proper backups. In January the HDD had errors and I almost lost a month of kid photos. No 3-2-1, only local copy. Wife still brings it up.

Now: Immich with daily backup to external USB, weekly rclone to B2, and Nextcloud with versioning. Matrix is still half-used because sister is on Messenger.

Cost is now about $6/mo for B2 vs $15+ for Google One family, but time cost is higher.

For those who run Immich on similar old Optiplex / small box in closet — how do you handle backups without making it a second job? And how do you keep noise/heat down? My closet is warm and wife is not happy about second heater.

Happy to share docker-compose if anyone needs.

Saw the top post today about Nitter getting a cease and desist. Not surprised, but it hit a nerve.

Last winter I finally moved my family off Google Photos. Not for ideology, just tired of paying for One that gets more expensive every year.

Old Dell Optiplex 7040 in the closet, Immich for photos, Nextcloud for docs, Matrix for family chat. It was messy. I forgot to set up proper backups and almost lost a month of kid photos in January. My wife still brings it up.

Before that I thought privacy was about picking a better provider. Nitter was part of that logic too - use a private frontend for a bad platform. But frontends die. Nitter, Invidious, all of them. One letter and it's gone.

Self-hosting didn't solve everything, but at least my photos don't depend on someone else's frontend staying alive. The problem now is family. My server is in my closet, but my sister is still on Messenger, my mom on iCloud. My setup doesn't protect them.

Curious how you handle this part. When the frontend you rely on disappears, do you try to move family to Signal/Matrix or just accept you can only protect your own node?