What do you use to backup files from your phone to Google Drive? Is there anything that can permanently delete the old files?

Curious about both android and iOS because I want to know what to recommend to friends. I'm asking about Google Drive because that's what is simplest for my peers right now.

With Facebook adding AI directly into messenger, I have some people wanting to switch to Signal. However I'm not confident in my process for backups.

Right now I'm using FolderSync which is working well. The problem is deletion, where the deleted file sticks around in the trash for 30 days, eating up storage space until I manually delete it. Since the Signal backups can get quite large, the trashed backups are enough to put me over the limit.

I didn't try WhatsApp that long, but it had a built-in feature to backup to Google Drive. I don't need that level of simplicity, but something close would be nice.

ultratiem ,
@ultratiem@lemmy.ca avatar

iOS has its own internal backups that can either be done by connecting your device to a Mac or a PC with iTunes for local storage or you can use a part of your iCloud storage and upload it. There is no need to add an extra layer or another provider.

otter OP ,
@otter@lemmy.ca avatar

Is it possible for them to mark a specific folder for upload / backups? I think android has a similar backup option, but it's for the entire phone's contents.

tiny ,

I self host seafile. Nextcloud and syncthing are also good options. There are people that sell hosted nextcloud and seafile

bookworm ,

@tiny
would you mind sharing those ppl?

tiny ,

Altispeed technologies sells both otherwise I'm not familiar with anyone else that does it since I self host

jjlinux ,

Just do away with everything Google. You're welcome!

LordCrom ,

Dont trust or use Google drive. Google wouldn't offer that space for free....they get something out of it.

ultratiem ,
@ultratiem@lemmy.ca avatar

They get to comb thru all your stuff. And if you think “hey but that violates so many regulations”… LMAO

All the email you send through Gmail, all your search terms. Everything Google touches of yours is theirs basically. And if you think that’s some tinfoil hat shit and they’d be caught… LMAO.

Sagar ,

No. Remote computers are not your hardware, your secrets always stay there.

We should all own our own hardware. Any centrally connected system is bound to fail if it is compromised. We must have modular systems, that is everyone must own their hardware.

joeldebruijn , (edited )

To understand correctly:
You have friends that care about moving files of their mobile by sync? Or is their only concern switching to Signal, but the lack of backup besides on the device?

Asking because:

  • I have the same solution as you but the android folders - foldersync - Nextcloud variant.
  • My motivation comes from privacy / sovereignty.
  • My friends lack this motivation so they are happy using the cloud (iCloud or Googles) to "backup" everything.
  • Any hassle by not using that needs strong motivation to endure and overcome.

So when their photos are in the cloud and their documents stay happy in mail attachments often there isn't much more to backup besides configuration. Which all those bigphone (Samsung Lenovo Apple etc) suppliers provide.

For the chat backup:

  • I got my whole family to switch to Signal (at least with me and for group chats, we have them for events and topics). The leverage I used was to only use Signal for baby photos of our newborn kids which my sisters and mom just couldn't live without. 😎
  • They complain about running out of local storage and not being able to bulk delete media in Signal.
  • As a workaround they sort by filesize and delete a dozen big files (eg video).
  • Or they leave a group, delete it along with media and join again.
  • I was surprised they don't care about the files after consuming it (foto video) and happy delete them.
  • After that ... the backup becomes small again.
otter OP ,
@otter@lemmy.ca avatar

Or is their only concern switching to Signal, but the lack of backup besides on the device?

Pretty much this, they like the comfort of being able to check old messages to remember what was talked about. I'll look into deleting my files to keep backups at a manageable size

BrikoX ,
@BrikoX@lemmy.zip avatar

Just use Syncthing and whatever chat app you like.

otter OP ,
@otter@lemmy.ca avatar

Thank you, I'll try it.

What's the difference between this and Syncthing-fork? I see both recommended in different threads

mp3 ,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

Syncthing-fork has a couple of mobile-specific enhancements, like only sync on a schedule, never on mobile data, etc.

Dymonika ,

But the official SyncThing was more recently updated, last I checked. Should that be of concern?

mp3 ,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

My version of Syncthing-Fork is currently at 1.27.6, same as the official version.

I wouldn't be surprised if it lags behind for a day or two for the changes to be merged, but most if not all of it is specific to the Android wrapper, not the Syncthing core.

Dymonika ,

Oh, good to know, thanks!

solrize ,

Google drive is also privacy invasive, look at that guy who got banned for sending medical photos of his kid to the pediatrician. i've been using a self-hosted nextcloud instead of google drive, but these days back up to my laptop through rsync from termux over a usb cable. i've noticed with nextcloud, if I upload a folder with lots of photos, a few of them will fail and keep spamming notifications with retries. That is mostly on my old phone though.

otter OP ,
@otter@lemmy.ca avatar

I agree, and I'm planning something similar for myself

Since this is for friends, and since signal backups are encrypted, I wanted to see if it was possible with existing cloud backup services that they already use

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