How I ditched Google Photos and got my backups back [Video]

In today’s digital age, photos and videos are more than just memories; they are a curated archive of our lives. I’ve always found that storing them all can be a problem, especially when we add video to the mix. For a long time, Google Photos was the most convenient solution, but the monthly subscription fee and potential privacy concerns may not be worth it due to some undoubtedly excellent features. Switching to other services is therefore an attractive prospect.

Recently, to test what options there are and to gain more control over my photos while ditching the increasingly expensive cloud subscription. The most common answer I found? Synology BeeStation, a recently released personal cloud storage. Here’s my story of why I switched and how I did it (relatively) smoothly.

Why I wanted to replace Google Photos

There were three main reasons behind my decision – and I’m sure many people have the same thoughts:

• Costs: Google Photos offers free storage for high-quality photos, but with slight compression that reduces overall image fidelity. Upgrade to original quality photo storage requires a monthly subscription. These fees may seem insignificant at first, but they can add up significantly over time – especially when you go over the 2TB storage plan. After years of collecting images, videos, and tons of other files, I found myself managing my cloud library more than I needed to. This drive will work for years without a monthly fee.
• Privacy and control: Cloud storage services store your data on their servers. While most of them have robust security measures, the idea of ​​someone else effectively holding my entire photo library to ransom for a monthly fee wasn’t so satisfying given the mounting costs. I also wanted the peace of mind that comes with complete control over my photos. Another benefit was that I could give access to family members to back up their precious memories without being tied to me by a monthly subscription.
• Family deposits: I’m not the only one who wants to back up my photos, videos and files. Personally, I’d go for a completely offline solution with external drives and be content with transferring things manually – I do that a lot with SD cards and SSDs anyway. While this is great for one person, my family members aren’t tech-savvy or reliable enough to back up their files by connecting to a PC or Mac and transferring them to an external drive. Some don’t even own a computer, so a solution that removes the frustration in multiple layers is a must.

Here’s why I settled on BeeStation

• One-time fee: (I hope) It’s a one-time purchase that provides local storage for my photos and eliminates the cost of an ongoing subscription. Plus, I have complete control over who has access to my precious files, photos, and videos. It’s by no means a perfect storage solution, and it’s not exactly cheap — but it’s cheaper than several years of similarly rated Google Photos storage.
• Under my control: The drive will live in my house, connected to my network, and means I can resolve anything internally before giving others access to it.
• Previous experience: I’ve used several Synology products over the years, so I found this to be a good compromise between convenience and price.

Setup is in progress

Setting up the BeeStation was a breeze. It comes pre-configured so all I had to do was plug it in and turn it on. The included Synology Assistant software guided me through the remaining steps. Within minutes, I was able to access the BeeStation interface via a web browser or mobile app. The interface is clean and user-friendly, with a touch of Google Photos, making it easy to navigate and manage my files.

First pain point: Transferring my content from Google Photos

I dreaded the arduous task of migrating years of files from my Google account to the new service. However, these concerns were unfounded as moving my photos from Google Photos to BeeStation was actually a straightforward process thanks to the Google Takeout feature.

To start a transfer, it’s as easy as signing in to your Google account and takeout.google.com. Sign up and the rest is simple. There, I selected Google Photos to export and made sure “All photo albums included” was selected to capture my entire collection. To ensure proper transfer of metadata such as dates and locations, your Google Account language must be set to English before creating this export. This step may seem unnecessary, but according to Synology, BeePhotos helps organize your photos chronologically and visually.

Next, I opted for the “.zip” format for easy manipulation on the BeeStation and chose “One-time export” for delivery. Once the export process was complete, I downloaded a .zip file containing all my photos.

The BeeStation hardware comes with a built-in photo management application called BeePhotos. Within BeePhotos, I designated a folder on the BeeStation to store my photos. This folder can be named and organized for future use based on my preferences. Finally, I used the BeeStation desktop app to upload the downloaded .zip file to the designated folder. The upload process may take some time, depending on the size of your photo collection, but BeeStation will keep you updated on the progress.

Second pain point: Why this solution over traditional hard drives?

There is absolutely no argument from me about traditional external hard drives. They are a much cheaper way to store data and can be picked up very easily and cheaply. Like any long-term storage solution, they also have some disadvantages. Cons that made the BeeStation more attractive to me and especially my family.

With an external hard drive, your photos are only accessible on the connected device. BeeStation allows me to access my photos from any computer or mobile device on my network, making them more accessible.

It also lets you set up an automatic backup feature that ensures my photos are always backed up whenever I connect my phone or tablet to Wi-Fi. It looked like a must from Google Photos. The set-it-and-forget-it approach is something that means my family members will also keep all their photos – even if something goes wrong with their device later.

This bonus is two-fold: It provides an extra layer of security against accidental data loss compared to a traditional hard drive that requires connecting to a computer and manually transferring all the content.

Since most cheap external storage options need to be connected to access, I can access my photos on the BeeStation via the mobile app even when I’m away from home. It’s super useful when you travel a lot and allows you to download photos and videos, similar to Google Photos.

I also wanted the ability to let family members save their own files. BeeStation allows me to create user accounts with different levels of access. This allows me to share my photo collection with family and friends while controlling who can see or edit what, mimicking the shared album features I love about Google Photos.

For these reasons, while traditional hard drives offer lower initial costs, BeeStation features and functions provide a more robust and user-friendly solution for managing a large photo collection.

The biggest disappointment about the BeeStation is that it has a completely sealed internal 5400rpm drive. Aside from the price, this is one of the main drawbacks and could easily be a deal breaker for many people. Raw backups should be fine. If you have an incredibly large library above the 4TB limit, I’d say you’ll need to look for another solution. This is perfectly fine for my particular use case, but it’s worth noting that you can expand your storage using the built-in USB port if you need that option. I’d love to see Synology add a removable or user-replaceable drive if an updated model ever gets the green light.

As I noted, a full NAS system would be my overkill for larger files. I’ve been using the Synology DS923+ for a while as an all-purpose backup for my video content creation process. While intuitive, it’s not as seamless as BeeStation’s app-centric approach, and has an even more exorbitant asking price than this simple-but-not-quite-NAS solution. Since I had a great experience with this particular setup, I wanted to try the BeeStation first.

If anyone is wondering, I wouldn’t recommend picking up BeeStation as a Plex server. It’s not even supported and lacks the ability to do real video transcoding on the fly. Check out the other options if you want to do this.

BeePhotos: Google Photos “Lite Edition”

BeePhotos is not just a storage solution; it’s a powerful photo management tool that, while impressive, clearly lacks a lot of neat AI-powered features that Google Photos can offer. That said, I was surprised at how well it handled what I wanted it to do. Maybe years of Google’s cloud storage plan has warped my sense of what other brands could achieve.

Most importantly for me, I can configure BeePhotos to automatically back up photos and videos from my phone or tablet whenever it connects to Wi-Fi. Like Google Photos, it ensures that I never lose a precious memory, whether it’s a candid moment or a staged family photo — not that I take many in all honesty.

Like 99.9% of products today, BeePhotos uses artificial intelligence to automatically categorize my photos based on content. It can identify landscapes, portraits, objects and even faces. This makes searching for specific photos much easier.

BeePhotos also includes another Google Photos feature that lets you create facial recognition groups, making finding photos of specific people a breeze. This is especially useful for large family gatherings or trips with multiple friends – not that I take too many group shots.

You can also download images and videos for offline access or add them to your device’s camera roll. So you’re not limited to just browsing files; you can take them with you if you want.

Is this setting worth it?

While BeeStation is actively helping me get off the expensive Google One 2TB subscription plan, it’s not without some pitfalls. I mentioned the slow driving speed. This has not manifested itself as a major problem at this stage, but I am fully aware that it could be a problem later on.

Having only one sealed drive is not exactly the best design choice. For starters, if you care about data redundancy, then this is actually a terrible solution if a drive fails. While this is a criticism, you can also relate to the process of backing up an external drive – and something I’ve experienced in the past.

This is a super basic personal cloud that makes it incredibly easy to start moving backups back under your full control. It’s streamlined to do exactly what it’s supposed to do, making it an easy recommendation for anyone stressing out about setting up their own backup process.

After testing with my tech-illiterate parents, this was the easiest way to cut the Google Photos cord and the only pleasant experience I’ve tried so far. I appreciate there are some pitfalls, but this could be a great hub for people who want a similar solution to some offline storage issues.

Alternatively, you can stick with Google Photos. It’s still great for most people; it’s hassle-free and has incredible features baked in. Here’s the thing: even if I use it for some content, I’d rather have my private memories disconnected.