I Never Pay for Cloud Storage: Here's My DIY Method for Storing Photos and Videos - CNET

If you took a bunch of photos and videos during the holidays, your phone is probably running low on storage . Now what? You might be tempted to just upload all your files to the cloud -- but if you do that, you'll end up paying a pretty penny. Zooey Liao/CNET Cloud storage didn't used to be expensive. When Google Photos debuted in 2015, it promised free, unlimited storage. I happily uploaded all my photos and videos, knowing they were safe in the cloud and accessible from anywhere. Then, in 2021, Google pulled the rug out from under us. The free ride was over. All those thousands of photos were safe, but every new picture started chipping away at that measly 15GB of free storage . Suddenly, my photo habit came with a price tag, forcing me to pay for a Google One subscription if I wanted to keep uploading. All those photos and videos were taking up a lot of space, because what's stored in the cloud doesn't actually vanish into the sky. Those files exist on physical servers here on Earth. Essentially, they're stored on someone else's computer. And now I was being charged to use that storage space. I've always disliked the idea of paying for monthly subscriptions: $10 a month becomes $120 a year, which becomes $1,200 after 10 years. And Google One wasn't a subscription that I could just cancel, like Netflix or Spotify. If I stopped paying, I would no longer be able to upload new photos and videos, and I would potentially lose access to all my files after two years . How could I back up all my memories without the cloud? Over the years, I developed a system for managing my files and keeping copies stored on an external hard drive . While it takes a little more work to transfer everything manually, it's a better long-term solution for me, and it doesn't rely on paying for a subscription service. Don't miss any of CNET's unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome. Why I use an external hard drive for storing photos and videos If you don't want to pay for cloud storage, you may be tempted to get a phone with a higher storage capacity. After Google Photos stopped letting me upload files for free, my first thought was that I'd rather pay more up-front for a device with a terabyte of storage instead of paying indefinitely for a Google One subscription. But even the most future-proofed 1TB phone will eventually need to be replaced. And if I want to carry over all my old files, my next phone will need to have at least as much storage as my current one, plus additional capacity for my future photos and videos. To complicate this issue, image file sizes continue to grow. As phone cameras improve, the footage they capture results in higher-megapixel files. My iPhone estimates that each 12-megapixel image is approximately...

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