Yes you're right. When i did the math at the start i calculated it would pay for itself in a few years. However it's kind of like a car. You get a car and you always want to add new rims, new turbo, new subwoofer etc. I added more ram which was needed anyway. Upgraded the SSD. Want to replace the old SATA. Bought a new HDD to backup too. Then it started to add up. My server is really small and basic too. Just a pre 2020 lenovo thinkcentre. Of course everyone is different too. If I were just hosting my data and not using it as a media downloader and player as well then I wouldn't have really needed any of that extra stuff. Also you have to consider that liberating your data is a huge benefit even if financially it the numbers don't look as good as you want. You can't put a price on that.
noodNinja
A dumbass question maybe - Is this what the "keys" category in Bitwarden is meant for? I always thought it was for SSH related keys. I don't encrypt by backup HDD as I don't really care but this is kind of a good idea.
Getting sick of google having a degree of control over my data and the increasing AI being jammed down everyones throats. Combined with the keylogging keyboards and OS's which are becoming more and more invasive by the month. Time for some liberation. I also enjoy learning coding, docker, networking etc. Cost is another factor. Although I could lie and say a 1 time fee for a server will be cheaper than Google One. Yeh it was at the start on paper but realistically after you upgrade drives and ram and buy backup drive etc it does start to add up.
My thoughts as well. It never really crossed my mind to just store all my photos in Google photos or similar service at any time. As long as I remember a backup to me has meant connecting the device to a computer with USB and backing up what I want to backup, including the devices photos. I have a friend who was telling me awhile ago how great Google Photos is and how he has like a decade of photos in there. For these kinds of people I suppose "backup" means a backup provided by google. I don't know but I imagine people who were born into a world with phones and google have never really considered doing things with a simple USB cord and are more comfortable to go all-in with googles ecosystem. A few years ago I backed up a phone and then factory reset it as it was running like shit and full of junk and needed a fresh start. I then had issues with google which is another story but when chatting with them about it they asked "why did you reset your phone" as if it was some kind of unusual thing that I should not have done. I'm glad I am out of their whole bullshit system now. Also for OP original question if you don't want to self host then I would suggest syncthing. Also if you want to start running services like syncthing or nextcloud / self hosting related apps, keep in mind they will likely run much better on graphene than standard OS. For example Xiaomi (and many other brands) constantly kills nextcloud, tailscale, davx5, syncthing and similar whereas graphene never does. You have full control. Personally I self host and backup with RSYNC. I use syncthing for Obsidian. 2 different immich logins: 1 for note type screenshots and 1 for regular travel, food etc pics. Syncing off.