Cloud Storage Always Full? Take Steps to Free Up Space --- How to declutter your personal data, shrink file sizes and -- if you want -- ditch the cloud entirely

“As soon as my son was born, my cloud storage started filling up -- fast. We'd never taken so many pictures and videos before. And last year, after filming his first time singing the "ABCs," I got the dreaded "Storage full" notice from Google.

 

You know the drill: Pay more or start deleting. I opted for a $100 annual plan that allots me two terabytes. Google calculates that I will max that out within four years.

 

Are we forever destined to pay more cloud rent to Google, Apple or other providers? It certainly seems that way. As our phone's cameras get better, photos and videos take up more space. It's storage-flation.

 

I'm not going to tell you to stop taking pictures, but I can help you minimize your digital hoarding. You can Marie Kondo your camera roll and shrink future file sizes to slow your data surge. There's also the nuclear option: Ditch the cloud and back up your data to a local drive.

 

Step 1: Cloud triage

 

Identify what -- or who, if you share a cloud drive with your family -- is hogging your storage, then delete stuff you don't need.

 

Apple: View your storage breakdown on any Apple device by going to Settings, tapping your name, then iCloud and finally, Storage. (On a Mac, this is labeled "Manage. . .")

 

From there, you can check family members' use and curate your own data. In Backups, I deleted old devices -- over 50 GB! You can reduce the size of your current iPhone's backup by turning off syncing for any unnecessary apps. Save even more space by backing up your iPhone locally to your Mac.

 

In the iCloud Photos section, tap Manage Storage, where you can merge duplicates and delete large files. Remember: If you delete a photo from your iPhone, the file is removed from iCloud.

 

Next, in the Photos app, tap Collections. Under the Utilities section, you'll find lots to delete in Receipts and QR Codes. Under Media Types, go to Screenshots and Screen Recordings for more to purge.

 

Google: Go to one.google.com and click on Storage to see your usage across Google services.

 

Click "Clean up space," which surfaces large emails, files and photos and videos in your account.

 

If you use Google Photos, open the app, go to Settings then choose "Manage storage" to cull your library further. It flags blurry photos, screenshots and other possible throwaway images.

 

You can also downsize your entire library with the option labeled "Convert existing photos & videos to Storage saver." It cuts the resolution of photos larger than 16 megapixel and videos larger than 1080p, and does some compressing as well. Beware: Once you click this option, you can't recover the higher quality media, so download the originals to a local drive first.

 

Amazon Photos: If you pay for Prime, unlimited photo storage comes with your membership. Because of this, you may want to park your images there. Just remember, the included benefit only allows for 5 gigabytes of video files.

 

Step 2: File sizes

 

Once you've reviewed your digital hoard, it's time to consider the files you're generating now.

 

Turn on high-efficiency files. I'll spare you the nerdy details, but using the HEIC file type takes up less space than standard JPEG files. In iPhone Settings, go to Camera, then Formats and select "High Efficiency."

 

On Android camera settings, depending on your model, you may need to go to "More settings" or "Advanced" to turn on high-efficiency capture.

 

Turn off Live Photos. These mini videos are fun for kids and pets, but they can double a photo's file size. I now manually turn off Live Photos for meh shots, like the snaps of my dry-cleaning receipt.

 

On Samsung devices, you can tap to disable motion photos from the top of the camera app. On Google Pixel phones, turn off Top Shot in camera settings.

 

Tweak other iPhone settings. In the same Camera menu, turn off "View Outside Frame," which stores extra image data.

 

Also, lower your video resolution: I prefer 720p video at 30 frames per second. If I'm shooting something more meaningful, I can easily change it.

 

Step 3: Local drives

 

Don't forget about external drives. The USB-C port on recent phone models makes local backups even easier. They do require regular, manual effort, though. And it's always good to make a backup of your backup.

 

While hard-disk drives are still cheaper, newer solid-state drives, aka SSDs have faster data transfer speeds and are less prone to fail, because they have no moving parts.

 

Seagate offers two terabytes on a tiny SSD for around $180. I like the company's products because they come with a three-year warranty and data rescue services. We also like Samsung's portable SSDs, which include rugged options.

 

You can plug most drives right into your phone's USB-C port to transfer data. If you have a large library, you might have to be patient.

 

iPhone: Open the Photos app, select the photos or videos you want to save, then tap Share. Select Export Unmodified Originals. Under Locations, select your hard drive, then tap Save.

 

Android: Open the Files by Google app. Select your files, then tap the three-dots icon. Tap "Copy to" and select the USB icon with your drive's name.

 

The downside to local storage is that you miss out on features like natural-language search and smart filters. One workaround is to move your Apple Photos library to an external drive, which allows you to use the Mac software without taking up your laptop's storage space.

 

Then there's the decidedly retro approach: I love printing books with my favorite shots from the year. The end result is always more fun to look at than a grid of images.

 

It's true, the cloud will cost you, but its convenience is hard to beat. For now, I'm sticking with Google Photos, with a standing quarterly calendar appointment to cull and curate my library. I got another email from Google, this time with better news: My subscription now includes more AI benefits. In addition to saving my own memories, I can start generating new fake ones!” [1]

 

1. Cloud Storage Always Full? Take Steps to Free Up Space --- How to declutter your personal data, shrink file sizes and -- if you want -- ditch the cloud entirely. Nguyen, Nicole.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 24 Feb 2026: A10.