The Dilemma of Convenience vs Data Freedom
Have you ever stopped to think about the true cost of convenience? When a tech giant like Google offers us free services like Gmail, Google Calendar, and YouTube, it can be tempting to assume that we’re getting something for nothing. But the truth is our data – not only things we create using these tools but all the ways we interact with them – is the real product being sold. Every time we sign in to Gmail or Google Docs, we’re essentially signing over our digital footprint to these companies who then sell that data to other companies.
In return for this “free” service, we get a suite of tools that make our lives easier: nearly spam-free email, available-anywhere documents and spreadsheets, automatic backups, seamless collaboration tools, and lightning-fast search capabilities. But at what cost? Our personal data is used to fuel targeted advertising, inform market research, and even influence policy decisions. We trade off our data privacy for the convenience of having all our digital needs met in one place.
I am hardly the first person to ever write about this (see The Linux Cast podcast episode called “Can You Really De-Google Yourself?”), but recent events regarding big tech companies bowing the knee to the government have elevated my sense of unease about what information I have stored in the cloud (most critically my financial and health information). I began to wonder: what exactly am I giving up when I use Google Workspace? And what would happen if I decided to take my business (and my data) elsewhere? I am not optimistic that I can completely de-Google myself, but I’m going to at least reduce my Google footprint and take control of the most essential personal data.
The Search for Google Alternatives
As I began to explore self-hosted alternatives to Google Workspace, Nextcloud caught my eye. Nextcloud is a fully open-source, self-hosted content collaboration platform. Its promise of secure, private document creation and collaboration looks like it could serve as a solid Google Workspace replacement. Nextcloud Office offers editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings and can read and write all major document formats like DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX as well as a wide range of open formats. All these documents can be edited together with colleagues and from mobile or the browser interface.
But it wasn’t just about the software – I also knew that I needed to understand how to host it myself. And if I host it myself, I need to set up server redundancy to protect my data in case of a drive failure.
There is a reason people willingly give up data privacy for quick and easy functionality. This stuff is complicated!
The Homelab Journey Begins
This is where things got interesting (and slightly daunting). To host Nextcloud locally (meaning on a computer hard drive that I physically own), I’d need a self-hosted server, which meant diving into the world of homelab computing. What started as researching Google Workspace alternatives soon turned into an singular mental focus: learning about setting up a home server to run the Nextcloud applications as well as a NAS (network attached storage) system for file redundancy. I started considering the different hardware options available.
- Do I purchase a Raspberry Pi,
- an off-the-shelf NAS server,
- use my old MacBook,
- or buy a dedicated PC to run a Linux server?
The more I read, the more options I had to wade through.
Initially, I was determined to build a Raspberry Pi 5 NAS so much so that I ordered all the parts totaling $437, but quickly decided that was more than I wanted to spend initially for this experiment. So I canceled that order and continued to research computer options for hosting the server. As my friend Sam Seide said, “You have to decide if part of the spend is just for the hobby part of it or if you really are just going for the end product.”
Later that day, I found a 2017 ThinkStation P310 SFF from a used computer store I had purchased from before. They had it listed for $199, but since they were shutting down their business in a month, I asked them if they’d take $100. They countered at $135, and it was a done deal!
The ThinkStation has an i7-6700 @ 3.4 ghz Processor, 240GB SSD, and 16GB DDR4 2133 RAM (2x8gb). While it might not be the most conventional choice for a homelab server, it seemed like the perfect compromise between performance and budget. Adding a couple of large hard drives should be an easy and affordable solution to set up the desired storage redundancy.
While I wait for my new server to arrive, I’m researching technology options such as TrueNAS Scale and Docker Containers. YouTube channels like NetworkChuck, Jeff Geerling, Learn Linux TV, and TechHut now fill my feed with helpful tutorials. It’s been a crash course in tech jargon, but I’m determined to add Homelab Server Tech to my LinkedIn profile.
Documenting the Homelab Journey
This blog series is all about documenting my journey as I learn about setting up a homelab server on the ThinkStation. Future posts will document my experiences:
- Setting up the ThinkStation server using TrueNAS Scale
- Installing and configuring NextCloud as an online office suite to replace Google Workspace
- Playing with other applications running on TrueNAS Scale
Phew! That sounds like a lot, and to be honest, I’m not sure how this will go. I’ll document my victories, mistakes, and lessons learned along the way – and hopefully inspire other nerds to join me in this quest for data freedom.
Stay tuned for future posts about this journey! If you have homelab stories of your own, please share them in the comments! I’d love to hear about your experiences!
Nice. I can’t wait for the next article!