Thanks, I have the same problem and need to do something about it.

I wonder if it can calculate (estimate) how big of an external disk I'll need. My wife and I each have 40-50k photos and a few thousand videos in iCloud Photos.

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b112 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

If you want to truly save your photos, make backups of the locals and put it in your safe deposit box at the bank. Or alternatively, at a trusted friend/relative's house.

Even doing this yearly can save the immense sadness of lost memories. And of course, this works for emails, and everything else.

If you encrypt it, make sure you use a method not tied to any external service, or the machine you're on. I don't use Apple, yet I suspect that an encrypted external backup might be tied to your Apple ID, or some such, because that's how the world flies today.

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mh- 3 days ago | parent [-]

Yeah, the plan would be external disk -> offsite storage.

I wouldn't bother to encrypt, it's just family photos and I wouldn't want to complicate restores. Especially if it was my wife who eventually needed to use it.

	▲	subscribed 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		To anyone who reads it: actually A HARD FISK, not a pendrive/SSD

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beala 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

On my iPhone, I can see the size of my iCloud photo backups. Settings -> Apple Account -> iCloud -> Storage.

Weirdly, that number is different than Immich’s estimate of my photo library (95 GB vs 150 GB), but perhaps good enough to get you in the ballpark.

	▲	mh- 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Oh yes, of course. Thank you. 422 GB. Looks like my wife has slightly more.