Start Here · My whole home · Your path
Files, calendar and contacts
Replace Google Drive, iCloud Drive or OneDrive, and sync your calendar. Work down the list — each step builds on the ones above it.
Start here
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Drive: the private alternatives
From the replacement table, kept up to date.
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Calendar / Contacts: the private alternatives
From the replacement table, kept up to date.
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Calendar and contacts; Drive and Docs
De-Google Your Life · Chapters 10–11
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Proton Drive, and moving your files in
Proton Suite: The Definitive Guide · Chapters 8–9
If you choose Proton Drive.
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Proton Docs and Sheets
Proton Suite: The Definitive Guide · Chapter 11
If you choose Proton Drive.
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Proton Calendar in depth
Proton Suite: The Definitive Guide · Chapter 12
If you choose Proton Calendar.
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Takeout checklist
Run it yourself
Optional, and a bigger step: host it on a small server at home so the data never leaves your house. Do these in order — each one assumes the last.
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Plan the server: threat model, hardware, networking
Be Your Own Cloud · Chapters 1–4
Decide whether self-hosting suits you before buying anything.
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Self-Hosting Trade-offs
What you gain against what you take on, stated plainly before you invest.
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Homelab Hardware
Six starting points by cost, power draw and what each is good for.
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Installing Ubuntu Server for a Home Lab
From USB stick to a headless, static-IP, auto-patching box you can SSH into — the machine every self-hosting guide assumes you already have.
beginner⏱ 60 min -
SSH: Key-Only Login and Sensible Hardening
Turn off password authentication, lock down root, and stop the log noise — the twenty minutes that closes the most-attacked door on any server.
beginner⏱ 25 min -
Docker and Compose, Properly Installed
The right repository, the docker group and what it actually grants, a Compose file you can read, and the update routine that keeps a homelab from rotting.
intermediate⏱ 45 min -
Storage
Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 7
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Reverse proxy, HTTPS and local DNS
Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 8
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Reverse Proxy and HTTPS, Set Up Once
Chapter 8's Nginx Proxy Manager from empty folder to a trusted padlock: the shared proxy network, a DNS-only API token, one wildcard certificate for every service, and a way to test it all before Pi-hole exists.
Every service page assumes this is done.
intermediate⏱ 45 min -
Secrets and .env files
Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 9
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Nextcloud AIO
Be Your Own Cloud · Chapter 12
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Nextcloud AIO: Going Deeper
Chapter 12's Nextcloud All-in-One from folder to first login: the setup wizard, the proxy host, turning on AIO's own backup, and syncing calendars and contacts to your phone.
intermediate⏱ 90 min