[bndw]

IMO you can get 90% of the utility here (owning your data) with just the NAS and rsync.

1. Don't feed the FAANG

2. Store your SoR media, notes, documents on your own NAS

3. Automate a backup of the NAS, preferably both on and off site (I use rsync from a pi + large disk + cloud blob storage)

[ClumsyPilot]

I second this, either get a Synology/Qnap NAS or take an old PC with a couple drives and install OpenMediaVault/Freenas/Unraid. All of these platforms have out-of-the-box solutions that mirror most cloud services. I found homelab redit to be great.

If you get the off-the shelf NAS, get one with at least 2GB of ram! Synology is particularly notorious for selling NAS with 512MB(WTF?!) of ram, and then when you try to run a few applications it grinds to a halt.

[qznc]

NAS fails for smartphone integration. Photos should auto upload. Calendar, todos, and contacts need to show up in the usual apps. It needs to be available from remote.

[X-Cubed]

Synology NASes have various apps for syncing mobile devices, such as DS Photo for uploading photos to Photo Station, Synology Drive for more of a Dropbox approach, and MailPlus for contacts, emails, etcs.

https://www.synology.com/en-nz/dsm/feature/photo_station https://www.synology.com/en-nz/dsm/feature/drive https://www.synology.com/en-nz/dsm/feature/mailplus

[squarefoot]

Syncthing may be used to sync remotely the relevant directories. It's multiplatform and has a Android app too (still not iOS though).

https://syncthing.net/

[nicbou]

FolderSync is another excellent option that might mesh better with your existing setup.

[shaan7]

I second this. I use FolderSync Pro to sync with Nextcloud. Straightforward setup and quite reliable.

[squarefoot]

How does it compare with the Syncthing companion app, which is 100% open source and ad free?

[shaan7]

Not sure, I have not used Syncthing yet.

[BugWatch]

Self-hosted VPN (if you're physically away from home) + directory sync app (in my case, SyncMe [at the moment; might switch to SyncThing]).

[bndw]

Smartphone integration isn't necessary for everyone (myself included), but I appreciate most people want it.

[varispeed]

re 3 Restic is pretty good as you get your data encrypted locally, so it can be used over untrusted storage facilities.

[andrei_says_]

Synology backs up beautifully to the cloud.