☁️ 1€ Self-Hosted Cloud

Replacing Phone & Laptop Storage with Nextcloud

🤔 Your phone tells you “Storage almost full”.
🤔 Your laptop starts slowing down.
🤔 Photos, videos, documents — everything competes for space.

You look at cloud storage plans:

• €2 here
• €5 there
• suddenly it’s another monthly subscription

I didn’t want that 🚯

What I did have was:

• an unused laptop
• a large hard drive
• basic Linux knowledge

So instead of buying more cloud storage, I built my own personal cloud — for about €1 per month. 💶

This repository documents that setup.

❕Not as a perfect solution.
❕Not as an enterprise system.
✔️ Just something practical that works.

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The idea (in one sentence)

Use hardware you already own to move storage pressure away from phones and laptops — and keep control of your data.

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What this is (and what it isn’t)

✅ What this setup is

• A personal cloud running at home
• Built with Nextcloud
• Uses a local disk (internal or external)
• Fast on your home network
• Optional public access from anywhere

❌ What this setup is not

• A NAS appliance replacement
• A zero-maintenance system
• A cloud service for teams
• A “plug-and-play” product

This is for people who are okay with:

• reading logs
• running commands
• understanding trade-offs

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The problem this solves

Most people hit storage limits. This setup changes that flow:

• Phones upload photos → storage freed
• Laptops sync files → disk pressure reduced
• Data lives on a larger, cheaper disk at home

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High-level architecture

          Internet
             |
    (optional public access)
             |
      ┌─────────────┐
      │   Small VPS │(~€1/month)
      │  (Gateway)  │
      └──────┬──────┘
             │  
      VPN (WireGuard)
             │
  ┌──────────▼──────────┐
  │  Home Ubuntu Server │
  │  (unused laptop)    │
  │                     │
  │  Nextcloud (Docker) │
  │                     │
  │  Data stored on:    │
  │  - internal disk    │
  │  - OR external HDD  │
  └──────────┬──────────┘
             │
    Local Network (LAN)
             │
Phones • Laptops • Tablets

Important:

🔹 The VPS never stores your data.
🔹 It only provides secure access to your home server.

If you don’t need public access, the VPS is optional.

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Hardware requirements (minimal)

You don’t need anything fancy.

• Any old laptop or PC that can run Ubuntu
• Either:
  • a large internal disk, or
  • an external USB hard drive

If you already own these, the cost is effectively zero.

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Local cloud first (LAN-only)

At the core of this setup is Nextcloud running on Ubuntu.

Why local-first matters:

• much faster than internet cloud services
• works even if your internet is down
• no exposure to the public internet by default
• ideal for home photo backups

For many people, LAN-only access is already enough.

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Optional: public access from anywhere 🌏

Public access is not mandatory.

If you want:

• access while traveling
• file sharing links
• HTTPS with a proper domain

You can add:

• a very small VPS (~€1/month)
• a VPN tunnel to your home server
• optional domain + TLS

This keeps:

• your home network hidden
• your data stored only at home

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Data migration methods (your choice)

Moving existing data into your cloud is usually a one-time task.
Different users will prefer different methods.

Common options

Nextcloud desktop client

• simple
• good for small datasets

scp

• predictable
• good for one-off transfers
• no resume on failure

rsync (recommended for large data)

• resumable
• efficient
• scriptable
• reliable for unstable connections

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Daily usage (what this feels like)

Once set up, this behaves like a normal cloud:

• phones upload photos automatically
• laptops sync selected folders
• files can be shared via links
• storage pressure disappears from devices

A common workflow:

1. Photos upload to the cloud
2. You confirm they’re safely stored
3. Photos are deleted from the phone
4. Phone storage is free again

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Backup strategy (important)

This setup is not a backup by default.

Recommended:

• a second external hard drive
• periodic backups of the Nextcloud data directory
• keep backups offline when not in use

A rule worth repeating:

One copy is not a backup.
Two copies is the minimum.

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Costs

Typical ongoing costs:

Item	Cost
Old laptop / PC	€0
External hard drive	One-time
VPS (optional)	~€1 / month
Domain (optional)	~€1 / month
Cloud storage subscription	€0

After setup, the monthly cost is often less than a coffee.

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Who this setup is for

✔️ People running out of phone or laptop storage
✔️ People with unused hardware
✔️ People comfortable with basic Linux

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Final thoughts

This setup won’t impress anyone with complexity — and that’s the point.

It’s:

• simple
• affordable
• understandable
• under your control

If you already own unused hardware, this is one of the cheapest ways to stop worrying about storage limits — without handing your data to yet another subscription service.

I have not included the technical details here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.