[kennethko]

My workflow doesn't address your primary problem of reclaiming storage; I've addressed that with buying more local storage: I rely on two TrueNAS servers and Backblaze B2.

The primary TrueNAS server has a dataset for photos and is served via Samba share that I mount, as my primary access point across devices. Lightroom points to this share for the photos, and iCloud for Windows downloads new photos and videos to this share, as well.

On a weekly basis, that dataset is replicated to the secondary server and also synced to B2 via `rclone`. I do make use of the `rclone crypt`[0] option before pushing to B2, where the filenames are scrambled. There's no particular reason for this, other than it's how I first set it up years ago and haven't needed to change it. I have practiced file recoveries periodically to ensure I can still access my photos via `rclone`.

Assuming you have a Mac paired with your iPhone, I'd consider iCloud for the usability wins for your requirements. You can toggle the setting to download original resolution photos for the desktop Photos app and backup the resulting files separately. Perhaps to Glacier.

[0] https://rclone.org/crypt/

[nicolaslem]

I also use TrueNAS as the main place for storing everything that matters. It is also backed up to Backblaze B2 but using restic instead of rclone.

Having a local NAS with RAID redundancy, a filesystem with checksums and backed up properly brings much better peace of mind than relying on proprietary solutions like iCloud or Google drive.

[nytesky]

I’ve read that you aren’t supposed to use iCloud photos on a NAS (which is heck of a problem with the small SSD drives in MacBooks these days)