[nirvdrum]

> For the downvoters, consider this: If I were to manage all this myself, I would need at least three storage mediums with one being a different form factor to satisfy the 3-2-1 backup scheme. I would also need to procure arrangements for that third backup copy in the 3-2-1 scheme. And I would need to spend time managing it all.

> That is going to cost me more than a Franklin per year. Life is short, my time is precious, and my money is ultimately expendable.

When you're looking at cloud services, you need to perform your own off-site backup. Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc. will maintain copies that they'll restore in the event of a hardware failure. But, if your account gets compromised or a buggy sync or bad API event happens, your data is gone. They're not going to go restore it from tape for you. This is a big part of why I do have an in-home NAS. Maybe you have everything sync'd with a laptop and that has you covered, but Apple's expanded storage options are outlandishly expensive so I doubt many with the 2TB+ plans are able to do that. (Yes, you could use external storage, but that's also rather inconvenient for a Photos.app library.)

We could both get what we want if these storage operations weren't wrapped up in proprietary APIs. If I use iCloud I get a seamless experience on macOS, but no access at all on Linux. If I use Dropbox I get access on Linux, but little more than photo sync on an iPhone. Given the decades of precedent with filesystems and I/O APIs, I suspect we could have an abstraction layer and an implementation layer that would allow for interoperability. Anyone that wants to pay for iCloud are free to do so, others could use their preferred storage engine. But, allowing access into the walled garden is far less profitable.

For most people, storage needs are going to increase over time (more + higher resolution photos & videos, larger apps, document storage, etc.). 6TB for a family is not unreasonable and that's what? Three Franklins and three Jacksons per year + whatever for an external drive for your offsite backups. What comes after the 6TB option? Storage costs have decreased drastically over time, unless you're using a proprietary service; consumers are not benefiting at all from those gains in efficiency.

[ValentineC]

> Three Franklins and three Jacksons per year + whatever for an external drive for your offsite backups.

I know you're just following the theme set by the parent commenter, but there are a bunch of us folk on HN who aren't US residents, and have no idea how much those presidents mean in terms of currency.

[nirvdrum]

I'm sorry. I use the currency and had to think about what the values were. I was trying to follow the theme by the previous author, but I can definitely see how that'd be hard for others to follow. It's $360 USD (Franklin = $100 USD, Jackson = $20 USD).

[astura]

In addition to being confusing for non-Americans, it also confusing for Americans because $100 bills in American slang are "Benjamins," not "Franklins." It's most notable use is in the song "It's All About the Benjamins"

[Dalewyn]

I've heard it both ways myself; I like Franklin better since the others are all last/family names too.

[dblangford]

A Franklin is more or less two Turings and a Jackson is just less than a Turner.

[Dalewyn]

>6TB for a family is not unreasonable and that's what?

Microsoft in particular has a 6TB for $100/year family plan, sharable with up to 5 other family members for a total of 6 persons each with 1TB. Google's plans can all also be shared with up to 5 other family members, though their bytes-per-dollar can't compete with that particular Microsoft family plan.

Basically: Local storage with personal management needs to be very easy, cheap, and carefree (which it isn't) to compete practically with cloud storage.

The only exception is if one's needs are niche and specific. I actually have a Synology NAS at home that I keep most of my data on, but that's because my data is mostly "bottle of rum" and "Linux ISO" in nature and thus not something I can throw on cloud storage in the first place.

[Terretta]

> What comes after the 6TB option?

Well, 12TB.

And if you are head of household and share storage, you can combine storage plans. Mine currently shows “2.3TB of 14TB used”.

[nirvdrum]

Thanks. I overlooked the 12 TB. I'm not sure doubling the capacity and doubling the cost is really ideal for many, but it's nice to know it's there.