Yeah, I get what you are saying. But I guess I'm living in "survival" mindset, and realize that at any moment I might have to move, meaning I'll be able to take only important things with me. A NAS is usually not important, nor convenient to take.
However, as I was writing this, I thought that I could use a Mini PC with an additional HDD or two (for raid redundancy), and in case of whatever reason I'll have to move, I can just take the hard drives with me.
As for Google/iCloud. iCloud is easier to take out your data, it's literally a folder on the machine, in addition to the fact that Google ruins the metadata of photos (it took me a few days to fully merge it back with a help of some script off GitHub).
Some stuff in in folders, not all the stuff. If I bring up the Files app on my phone, there isn’t a folder for Photos. That is a separate service, which likely has a DB (or several) sitting in the cloud somewhere. I think if I want to get my photos out in an efficient way, I’d need to use Photos on the Mac to download everything, then open the photo library package, and find the Originals folder… or export everything through the UI. Other things, like bookmarks, app settings, etc are all hidden away somewhere.
The metadata is an issue. If you are using Apple products, it makes much more sense to use iCloud rather than Google.
I picked up a little micro PC off Amazon a while ago to mess around with. There was space in it for 2 drives. If you had to move, I’d take the whole thing, not just the drives. The whole package is pretty small (it can fit in a jacket pocket). You’re not going to save much space by just taking the drives, you’ll just complicate things for yourself down the line. You may not see a piece of hardware as important, but it’s the data you’re taking.
However, as I was writing this, I thought that I could use a Mini PC with an additional HDD or two (for raid redundancy), and in case of whatever reason I'll have to move, I can just take the hard drives with me.
As for Google/iCloud. iCloud is easier to take out your data, it's literally a folder on the machine, in addition to the fact that Google ruins the metadata of photos (it took me a few days to fully merge it back with a help of some script off GitHub).