"Unlimited" alternatives to Google Drive, what are the options?

Off Topic
1235

Thanks for the detailed response, and the sources. After reviewing them I tend to agree with your analysis that the problem was indeed caused by a bad version of the app not uploading newer files. But:

Quoting from there:

  1. Go into your G Drive (or wherever it is) and copy absolutely everything somewhere else outside of Google Drive.
    Due to the way that Google caches stuff, what you have locally will be your latest files. The problem looks to be that things weren't being uploaded properly.

This, specially the part I set to bold, seems to indicate that indeed the only issue were files not being sync'ed up to the cloud due to the app misbehaving. But notice the "looks to be" part also... this makes it sound like the author isn't very sure this was the only damage.

  1. If you want to carry on using Google Drive (!!!), re-enable the update services and wait for Google Drive to update. It will then sign you out and reset your local state to what it had in the cloud.

The part in bold doesn't sound tranquilizing at all, but instead that the author recommends getting whatever data you can recover in the previous step and then getting the hell out of Google... perhaps because he/she isn't sure about the exact cause of the issue and/or the extent of the damage.

Quoting from this one: "Google is still “investigating” the problem, so there’s no word on a fix just yet.". Perhaps it's best to wait for an official explanation and fix from Google before assuming anything.

But I'm right there with you: let's all hope this wasn't anything more than a glitch in the app and that no data has been deleted, corrupted or misplaced otherwise.

1 Like
1236

I do. Can I PM you?

1237

Looks like dropbox changed their policy. Data deletion after 60 days. Is there any other place I can migrate? I can extend budget but not much as to purchase local storage as it's unfeasible due to local pricing being 50% higher. Around 150TB of data, can reduce to 100TB.

1238

I am also a member of the DB Advanved grandfathered plan. Today was the day we were told our plan would transistion. What they failed to communicate is that, lets say you have 500TB allocated to your teams pool, but are only using 390TB of that 500. They base your total usage of storage used based on LAST months storage total, so if you have added more since then your SOL.

So what happened is that they take away your 500TB team allotment, and adjuated your total pool size to what it was 30 days ago, plus an additonal 5TB of space. So that unused 120TB of space is now gone. If you managed to fill up your allotment since the 300 days, your accoint will be full, showing 500TB used out of 390TB.

I was OK with the 1 year period, giving us time to find a solution, but to take away space thats been allocated to you for over a year is juat wrong. Our team is in a similar boat, since they adjusted ours, we are @120% usage and unable to upload anything more.

There was nothing in the blog that said anything about un-used space being taken away.

If only if we could find an alternative, I would be gone in a heartbeat.

1239

Why not post here for not only @Turner but everyone to see? I'm definitely interested in hearing about tests of other alternatives, and I bet most people here are too.

1240

From your and other reports, I gather there are apparently (and right now, as it seems all can change in an eyeblink) 2 different categories of users to Dropbox: (1) the "highly undesirables" which they 'decline to renew' (nice turn of phrase) their plan and immediately lock down to read-only and then will unceremoniously evict and delete all data after 60 days, and (2) the "slightly undesirables" which they will just take out some space but still allow uploads/updates in the remaining space and will give 1 year to vacate the premises.

but to take away space thats been allocated to you for over a year is juat wrong. Our team is in a similar boat, since they adjusted ours, we are @120% usage and unable to upload anything more.

Consider yourself fortunate. as it seems they decreed you to be in category 2. Many people here are in #1 and their situation is much direr. At least you got 10 more months to move your data elsewhere.

OFC you are right in being pissed. Dropbox is changing (and inventing new) rules all the time with the game on, and that with the barefaced lying justificative of "protecting our users' experience". Come on, Dropbox: what's actually happening is that you are repeatedly reneging on your part of the deal because you were both incompetent in setting it up to begin with, and because you want to keep making as much money as possible out of your business no matter how miserable you make "your users' experience" to be. This second part is justifiable in a dog-eat-dog, cut-throat society like we all live nowadays (and that we should be thankful for, as the alternative societies proved to be much worse); this first part ("reneging on your part of the deal") is not justifiable nor acceptable even by those standards, and I sincerely hope you crash and burn all your way down to Hell for it.

I don't know what Dropbox decided on me and my two account mates yet (haven't heard from the one of us that is the Dropbox contact), but yesterday our shared total space dropped by about 60TB; We are still under quota so it's not as horrible, and I particularly can survive it -- and meantime uploads/updates within the space that remains keep working. So it seems we fell in the #2 category too and will have 1 year to move. I certainly consider myself fortunate.

If only if we could find an alternative, I would be gone in a heartbeat.

You and me both, brother! :slight_smile: And I guess most people here, Dropbox users or not.

Unfortunately the only sustainable, cost-effective alternative seems to be setting up our own remote NAS at a relative's or friend's house (or even collocated in a datacenter as one of us has already done). Incredible that we can do that at a lower cost per TB than most (all?) so-called storage providers are trying to charge us for. But it is what it is :expressionless:

1241

That looks like a nice solution, cause I don't always need writeable storage, maybe twice a year.
But I think I made an error, I have created an account, added four users but I haven't uploaded the data for each user as a teamdrive with rclone, each user has its own space, I can't see data from other users.

Whenever I will delete a user now, will I also lose the users data or will the google account I created still work fine with all data in it?

1242

Turns out I spoke too soon. My account mate just reported with what Dropbox decreed on us:

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image684×673 176 KB

So we were also classified in the "highly undesirable" category and will have 60 days to take our data out. Thanks for nothing, Dropbox, and additionally hoping you land on your butt on top of a fire-anthill when you finally arrive in Hell.

1243

You have 60 days starting at the end of your current billing period next year. Not from now (well, if you were paying monthly, it won't change by much...)

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1244

You certainly can, just be aware I will share findings with everyone.

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1245

Yep we are paying monthly -- and I meant "60 days from the day they finally drop the hammer" on us. Their (latest) email says it's going to be Dec 29th so we would have until Feb 29th (2024 is a leap year, yay). But who knows, they change their mind faster than I change underwear.

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1246

I tried moving to Box then got hit with their bandwidth limitations when I was about half way through migrating 120TB. I had some to-ing & fro-ing with their customer support who assured me that if I kept within 1TB/user/month that all would be good so for example to migrate 50TB I could use 10 users for five months then drop down to 3 users once the data was on their servers.
Given the reports here of how Box treated other users I was not reassured especially as they provide no tools to monitor bandwidth used so I cancelled. My decision was confirmed a few days later after I had literally not touched Box for weeks I got another email claiming that I had breached their Fair Use Policy by exceeding the bandwidth limitations. I don't know how anyone could have confidence in a service like this.

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1247

Exactly. Box was the worst of the worst. I don't think they will be getting many new customers after this eff-up, at least not if these would-be customers know how to use Google and look for posts attesting their reputation.

But Dropbox is coming right behind them, and (with their change-their-mindorama) is now a very close second on this enshittification competition.

Google, who would guessed, is right now the "less worse" of them. Hope this doesn't get it motivated to lower its own bar again.

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1248

I was paying £8.99/month for a personal 2TB on Dropbox. I upgraded to Dropbox Advanced for unlimited storage but they changed the rules so I cancelled. Ironically three months later I still have full read & write access to my 2TB even though they aren't charging me any more. As they could pull the plug at any moment I cannot rely on it but it's useful for sharing & temporary files.

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1251

currently we are paying ~100 Eur per 50 TB at Google, everything seems stable and reliable, fair pricing; the other option is Hetzner 20 TB Storage Box imho

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1255

Folks, let's just not waste time/space responding to this obvious troll/shill, calling us names and accusing us of crimes without any evidence and much less proof... he/she/it just joined the forum less than 5h ago (ie immediately before posting), and it's probably just a bored intern at one of the aforementioned companies who's trying to sux up to his boss.

Remember, don't feed the troll and he/she/it will then just starve down into oblivion.

Besides ignoring, just report these posts so the forum admin/moderators can drop the ban hammer as needed, that's what I just did with the following comment: Calling people names (eg, "entitled"), accusing us of crimes ("your pirated content"), off-topic (isn't presenting nor discussing any alternatives, which is the topic's title and raison d'etre), and using a rude and inflaming tone, among other offenses. Just joined the forum before posting this, so I suggest it's perhaps better to just ban the user outright as an obvious troll/shill, but OFC just a suggestion.

2 Likes
1256

Over $2/TB and with the company that started all this brouhaha to begin with by reneging their own previous terms (so we would be just encouraging them to do it again). I personally don't think that's a good idea.

I checked and they're charging EUR 48 for those 20TB, so even more expensive. The bright side is that Hetzner at least doesn't have a record of screwing their customers, but there's been suggestions here around and even below $2/TB for reliable service from reputable companies, so I'm not a taker for either Google or Hetzner.

But thanks for bringing them up! :+1:

1257

Good tip re: Dropbox keeping your data accessible for RO, and I agree, I wouldn't rely on that.

Can you please tell us where you moved your data to? Kowalski, we need options :slight_smile:

1258

I'm curious to see what people are currently doing. It'll be interesting to see what this community is leaning towards so please try and provide an input.

Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

  • Selfhosting
  • Still with Dropbox but looking to move
  • Staying with Dropbox
  • Still with Google but looking to move
  • Staying with Google
  • Still with Box but looking to move
  • Staying with Box
  • Other options (Please comment below and share options)
0 voters
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1259

You can add as Option

  • Backblaze B2
  • iDrive e2
  • Wasabi
  • Hetzner Storage Box
  • OwnCube Storage Box

I use a crypto reseller for my hetzner storage box,
you can pay with crypto Hetzner, iDrive, OwnCube - https://storage-reseller.com/

But i think Selfhosting is the best if you have a secure home :smiley:

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