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title="Permalink to Digital Cleansing - NextCloud">Digital Cleansing - NextCloud</a></h1>
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<span>Thu 16 July 2020</span>
<span>| in <a href="https://murtezayesil.me/category/tech.html">Tech</a></span>
<span>| tags: <a href="https://murtezayesil.me/tag/digitalcleansing.html">digitalcleansing</a><a href="https://murtezayesil.me/tag/privacy.html">privacy</a><a href="https://murtezayesil.me/tag/nextcloud.html">nextcloud</a><a href="https://murtezayesil.me/tag/100daystooffload.html">100DaysToOffload</a></span> <span>| Day <strong>4</strong> of #100DaysToOffload</span>
</footer><!-- /.post-info --> <p>This article reflects my opinions and experiences with few file server services.</p>
<p>TL;DR : I think NextCloud is a far superior product for the price.</p>
<p>Digital cleansing is about reowning personal data and regaining control over how it is processed. When I started digital cleansing, I wanted to start from where the most of my data is stored. There are 2 such services, Google Drive and Photos. I started by looking for <a href="https://alternativeto.net/software/google-drive/">alternatives</a>. OwnCloud and NextCloud seemed like <strong>affordable</strong> and <strong title="Free Open Source Software">FOSS</strong> alternatives that allow <strong title="Can be hosted on personal (or home) computer/server without relying on another service provider">self-hosting</strong>.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Owncloud</h2>
<p>I started my journey by renting a VM on Digital Ocean, droplet. I installed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)" title="Minimum set of softwares needed for a working web service">LAMP stack</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OwnCloud" title="File server service">OwnCloud</a>. As a new comer to OwnCloud, I started to click every button in every menu to discover and learn more about OwnCloud. <a href="https://marketplace.owncloud.com/">Marketplace</a>, a feature manager to add/remove more features, has many stuff that can appeal to enterprises and teams working from home. Next, I browsed the <a href="https://search.f-droid.org/?q=owncloud" title="Apps for OwnCloud on F-droid">available Android apps for OwnCloud</a>. To my surprise, there aren't many. I expected niche apps on Android for using niche features on marketplace. Instead, I would run into more <a href="https://search.f-droid.org/?q=nextcloud" title="Apps for NextCloud on F-droid">apps branded for NextCloud</a>. Meanwhile I updated the droplet, because updates are important, but ran into "kernel updates rendering server unbootable" kind of issues, I switched to Linode and NextCloud after strugling on Digital Ocean for a week.</p>
<p>Just like Owncloud's marketplace, NextCloud has its own "app store", I'd like to them "feature manager" instead because both marketplace and app store are used for en/disabling features on the platform. But NextCloud has niche apps for Android and I believe this provides more convenience to mobile users like myself.</p>
<hr>
<h2>NextCloud</h2>
<p>Since NextCloud is a file server in its core, it was the drop-in Google Drive &amp; Photos replacement I needed. It also has built-in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV" title="Protocol for using remote file system over HTTP">WebDAV</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CardDAV" title="vCard (contact info) extension for WebDAV">CardDAV</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalDAV" title="Calendar extension for WebDAV">CalDAV</a> support, which means I can use NextCloud as Google Contacts &amp; Calendar replacement as well and access files in native file manager as if it was a USB drive 🎉️</p>
<p>After enabling more services from feature manager (yes, I am sticking with this name) it also became my notes, tasks, bookmarks manager as well. All powered by a VM that costs 5$/month to run, +2$ for backup.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One who loves roses should endure thorns - Turkish Proverb</p>
</blockquote>
<p>NextCloud is great. But just like every other artificial thing in this world, it isn't perfect. The biggest problem I face with it is the <strong>performance</strong> of web interface. It is written in PHP and being not compiled program is not doing any favors. Image preview loading can be called sluggish by many. Since I use mobile app most of the time which caches the previews, user experience isn't bad in my opinion.</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://kevq.uk" title="his blog">Kev Quirk</a> wrote a blog about his opinions and experiences with <strong title="My current choice of file server solution">NextCloud</strong> and <strong title="His choice of home server solution">Synology</strong>. This is my answer to <a href="https://kevq.uk/synology-vs-nextcloud-which-is-better-for-a-home-server/" title="Synology vs Nextcloud Which Is Better For A Home Server?">his blog</a>.</p>
<p>Synology's home server sound like a great product. I am happy for you and your family that your data is safe and accesible without giving up your privacy. After reading your blog, I wanted to try Synology as well. Upon seeing the price for <a href="https://www.newegg.com/synology-ds420/p/N82E16822108744" title="4 HDD bay NAS for home/small business use (disks not included)">Synology 420+</a> is 500$ and another 400$ for 4x <a href="https://www.newegg.com/seagate-ironwolf-st4000vn008-4tb/p/N82E16822179005" title="SeaGate NAS HDD">4TB HDD</a> for RAID 6, I believe NextCloud is the best choice I have. I am 1 student who has no movies, musics, 4K family photos or video project for YouTube channel to utilize TBs of storage not do I have budget for it. Under these requirements and constraints, I want to offer an alternative to Google to my family. Since I can't just ask for ~900$ for Synology, NextCloud on a VM is the best option I have. I still have option of increasing VM disk size or mounting external block storage as our storage needs grow.</p>
<p>It is nice that we have different perspectives on same topic. I wrote this answer because I wanted you to see from the eyes of a student living on pocket money and still afford for privacy of his and his family. May your Synology system last long and serve your family well 🙂️</p>
<hr>
<p>If you think Google services aren't that bad and I would be better off keep using Google services, <a href="https://tosdr.org/#google">here is my reasoning #1</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabet-google-privacy-lawsuit/google-faces-lawsuit-over-tracking-in-apps-even-when-users-opted-out-idUSKCN24F2N4" title="Google faces lawsuit over tracking in apps even when users opted out - Reuters">#2</a>. But if you still think that I should use Google services, tell me your reasoning and help me see your side of the coin. I would like to stay open minded.</p>
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<p>Day <strong>4</strong> of <a href="https://100daystooffload.com/" title="click to read about the challenge">#100DaysToOffload</a></p>
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