> If I go through with the interview and do poorly, I have no way of knowing when or if I would be given the chance again.
If the organization you're looking to join is minimally humane, they'll be open to giving you another chance later down the line. In the event of a rejection, ask whoever's communicating with you for feedback, and mention that you'd like to try again later.
Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and you discover that this organization is not willing to help people grow and give them a second chance, which could be a sign of other cultural problems below the surface, and you dodge a bullet in the process.
Best case scenario, you're in.
The middle ground is that you know you can prepare a bit more and try again later.
I feel like there's little downside to doing right away. I'd say do it.
I realize I wasn't actually using Google Photos, so my recommendation of hard drives likely isn't realistic for most people. TIL about Photoprism, I'll look into it.
For Google Drive, an actual solution for a typical use case would be something like Nextcloud (self-hosted or not, doesn't matter). My own use case was only about sharing a single file between two machines, so Syncthing fit the bill perfectly.
To get your data offsite, swap one of your photo drives with a safe deposit box … I think I pay about 50$ per year at BofA. It’s handy for a few bar drives and for critical important docs.