GoKawiilElyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Google Drive is the go-to for file storage, but there are alternatives.
I use Nextcloud, an open-source, free program.
It functions like Drive but has several advantages.
I've been a dedicated Google Drive user for years. It was always the easiest option to back up my important documents; it made sharing files easy, and I never had trouble with anything disappearing. Even though I blew past the free storage limit long ago, I was perfectly fine paying the monthly fee for the convenience of using the file storage system I was used to.
Over time, though, little things began to give me pause about trusting years of critical files to one service. I started seeing horror stories about users being locked out of their accounts seemingly for no reason, Google kept pushing more and more toward AI scanning, and I finally started noticing just how much I was paying for storage.
Also: How I saved myself $1200 a year in cloud storage - in 5 sobering steps
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