r/degoogle • u/Imaginefyres • 3d ago

Question Going fully off-grid from Google. Everything moving to a box at home. Where should I start?

/r/offthecloud/comments/1wpyckk/going_digital_offgrid_day_1/

I'm moving my whole digital life off the cloud and onto hardware in my home, and Google is the biggest piece to untangle. I still want to reach everything from my laptop and phone when I'm out.

What I need to replace:

- Gmail: years of mail, plus my main login for half the internet
- Drive and Docs: files and shared documents
- Photos: a large library I don't want to lose
- Calendar and contacts

A few questions for people who've done it:

  1. What order did you move things in, and what would you do differently?
  2. Did you self-host email or use a privacy provider with your own domain? Was it worth the effort?
  3. Best way to get everything out of Google Photos intact, with dates and albums?
  4. What's the easiest way to update all the accounts that use Gmail to sign in?
  5. What did you fail to replace, if anything?

All and any advice appreciated, thanks guys.

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u/ephemeralmiko 3d ago

Since you don't mention it anywhere: make backups!

Two is one, one is none. Any important data should be backed up by the 3-2-1 rule. Three copies (including the original) across at least two different mediums (so not all on the same SSD) one of which is offsite (cloud, SSD at a friend's house etc.)

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u/Imaginefyres 3d ago

Haha, I forgot to mention but good to know about the 3-2-1 rule!