Giving Up Device Storage

It’s 2024 and modern computing is of course all about the cloud. It has taken me years to reluctantly adopt and appreciate its convenience. Until recently, I’ve bemoaned that device makers include too little internal drive storage, forcing folks to rely on the cloud, which brings in those perpetual subscription fees. But now I’m finally giving up the need for tons of bytes inside my machine. 256GB inside a $1,000 MacBook? 64GB inside a Chromebook, iPad, or iPhone? Okay, fine, you win, sign me up for more cloud storage.

Stingy Storage

I’m one of those who typically buys the entry-level model of device because of the lower price tag. Or I choose a device with internal storage equal to what I need to store at present instead of buying extra storage for future needs. This is especially true regarding Apple hardware since the company typically charges exorbitant storage upgrade fees at each device tier. And Apple does not allow the option to add internal storage after purchase.

My smart computers always lack sufficient hard drive space.

For example, the 2022 iPad Air 5 I bought last Fall has a “whopping” 64GB of internal storage, which is frankly pathetic for such a modern device. Think about it: the 2021 iPhone 13, an Apple device that debuted a year prior, starts with 128GB of storage, so why would a newer tablet computer ship with half as much? Pardon some cynicism but the answer is likely: Apple Tax.

Well, as with my iPhone 12 mini’s 64GB of storage (same as my iPad), I must rely on iCloud to store all my photos, videos, and files and “optimize” my internal space. iCloud is sufficiently reliable, but the cloud is not backup, it’s centralized storage that syncs your files (or their proxies) between your devices. So for backup, I connect external storage via my MacBook (which only has 256GB internally) and clone my data.

Letting Go

The ideal I’ve wrestled with letting go is having ALL my stuff inside my main device (if not inside all my devices). When I started using computers in the 90s, there was no cloud, there was local internal storage. Every file you saved was in the big beige box by default. That’s what I was used to.

But I’m done fighting the lack of onboard gigabytes and terabytes. I am embracing full reliance on the cloud, storing ALL my stuff there, paying the subscription fees, and hoping I never lose internet access. That said, file backup is still important. I periodically download manageable folders of data and clone to a connected microSD card for example.

Switch Flip

I’m talking about the challenge of going all-in with cloud computing and accepting the fact that my computers may never have enough internal storage. What flipped the switch? I think two things are at play, which boil down to necessity.

First, sharing my iCloud storage with the whole family (across five iPhones, two iPads, and a Mac) required that I subscribe to the biggest plan with 2 terabytes; that’s a TON of headroom for us. So it is easy to upload (synchronous fiber speeds for the win) all the things. And with 5G cell speeds, I’m usually able to sync all my stuff on the go, whether it’s on my iPhone or my hotspot-tethered iPad.

Second, I started migrating from iCloud to Google Drive for my personal data and will eventually downgrade the iCloud storage tier to a lower-cost monthly plan. This shift from iCloud to Google’s cloud also has me considering Google’s Chromebook devices that often have a mere 64GB of onboard storage. They’re thin-clients, leveraging the cloud for data storage. They also fully rely on web-apps instead of installed native apps.

This is a total embrace of cloud computing, which Google excels at, and is a paradigm shift from classic native or local computing to a mobile-first, cloud-first setup. This piece and this article, though dated, explain Apple’s and Google’s different approaches to cloud computing.

Final Thoughts

Today’s tech is often storage-space constrained. But the reality is modern devices are meant to rely on cloud storage. Mobile computing, by necessity, is synonymous with cloud computing.

I still prefer the ideal of adequate local storage, but a device that lacks internal storage is no longer a deal-breaker for me. I also still prefer native apps, but most modern web-apps are rock solid, beyond good enough, and available across different platforms just like your personal data.

About a year ago, I leaned into local storage and away from the cloud. I said the cloud was mainly about convenience; I underestimated how powerful that is. I’m giving up the idea of local storage and embracing cloud storage plus web apps. It’s simple, practical, and affordable. And I’d say it’s more than good enough.