this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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Why is Google takeout so bitchy? (self.selfhosted)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by gedaliyah to c/selfhosted
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Sorry but I can't think of another word for it right now. This is mostly just venting but also if anyone has a better way to do it I wouldn't hate to hear it.

I'm trying to set up a home server for all of our family photos. We're on our way to de-googling, and part of the impetus for the change is that our Google Drive is almost full.We have a few hundred gigs of photos between us. The problem with trying to download your data from Google is that it will only allow you to do so in a reasonable way through Google takeout. First you have to order it. Then you have to wait anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for Google to "prepare" the download. Then you have one week before the takeout "expires." That's one week to the minute from the time of the initial request.

I don't have some kind of fancy California internet, I just have normal home internet and there is just no way to download a 50gig (or 2 gig) file in one go - there are always intrruptions that require restarting the download. But if you try to download the files too many times, Google will give you another error and you have to start over and request a new takeout. Google doesn't let you download the entire archive either, you have to select each file part individually.

I can't tell you how many weeks it's been that I've tried to download all of the files before they expire, or google gives me another error.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It doesn't have an option to split it?

When I did my Google takeout to delete all my pics from Google photos there was an option to split in like "one zip every 2gb"

[–] gedaliyah 10 points 3 months ago (2 children)

The first time I tried it in the two gigabyte blocks. The problem with that is I have to download them one or two at a time. It's not very easy to do over the course of a week on a normal internet connection. Keep in mind, I also have a job.

I got about 50 out of 60 files before the one week timer reset and I had to start all over.

[–] habitualTartare 13 points 3 months ago

Apparently you can save it to Google drive then download the Google drive program and make that folder available offline so it downloads it to the computer.

  1. When you setup the Google Takeout export choose Save in a Google Drive folder

  2. Install the Google Drive PC client (Drive for desktop)

  3. It will create a new drive (i.e. G:) in your explorer. Right click on the takeout folder and select "Make available offline". All files in that folder will be downloaded by the Google Drive Desktop in the background, and you will be able to copy to another location, as they will be local files.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You could look into using a download manager. No reason for you to manually start each download in sequence if there's a way to get your computer to automatically start the next as soon as one finishes.

[–] gedaliyah 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Any recommendations? Windows or Linux?

[–] NeoNachtwaechter 7 points 3 months ago

jDownloader

It is the most patient downloader I know.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Definitely recommend Motrix:

https://motrix.app/

If the Google download link supports it, it should be fairly resistant to interruptions. If it doesn't, this might not help much, but you should still use this instead of just a browser.

I haven't tried to download a Google takeout, so you might need to get clever with how you add the download link to it.

If you just can't get it to work, you can try getting the browser extension to automatically send all downloads to Motrix. There is some setup required, though:

https://github.com/gautamkrishnar/motrix-webextension

Good luck!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I used uGet on windows, and it was fairly smooth. Not google, but an equally annoying large download. I believe it's on Linux as well.