Remote file access via windows

[rgdesign]

Hi, 

I’m running a bit of a jank setup atm because I don’t have the budget for a NAS setup. 

I have a 6TB external HDD plugged into a windows laptop which I have connected to my wifi and it stays on all the time. At the moment I have it setup so that I can login to the windows laptop for file sharing via other devices on the network (mostly MacBook and iPad). This is working well and has saved a lot of my hassles around only being able to access the files on my drive from one device at a time and not at all from my iPad however I’m now at a point where I’m not just storing super old archived stuff on the drive - a lot of it is more recent data I need to access more frequently and don’t have the space to store locally on my macbook. 

I use the cloud for backups of the files on my laptop itself but isn’t a great solution for offloading data I don’t need regularly but need to be able to access when I need it because of the way OneDrive and google drive sync to my laptop (also - storage limits). 

 

Anyway... long story short I’m wondering if anyone knows of an easy solution to make my hard drive/laptop setup available for remote/wireless file access outside of my local network - really need to be able to access this from other wifi or cellular networks like when I’m at work or when I’m away from home for the weekend. 

 

Thanks in in advance for any support you can offer. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

You can setup an FTP server on Windows: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-ftp-server-windows-10

[Acedia]

2 hours ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

You can setup an FTP server on Windows: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-ftp-server-windows-10

IIRC FTP still transmits the Username and Passwort in clear text doesn't it?

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 hour ago, Acedia said:

IIRC FTP still transmits the Username and Passwort in clear text doesn't it?

You can set it up to be secure: https://winscp.net/eng/docs/guide_windows_ftps_server Note that I'm not sure what edition is required for FTP server functionality.

 

Otherwise you could set up a VM running Linux with all of the stuff you want to share on a shared location to the VM and use SCP or SFTP.

[Mikensan]

Couple alternatives... setup a VPN so you can connect as if you are local. Or you could setup Nextcloud which gives you a cloud storage feel and a web interface. The android app is also free to use.

[rgdesign]

3 hours ago, Mikensan said:

Couple alternatives... setup a VPN so you can connect as if you are local. Or you could setup Nextcloud which gives you a cloud storage feel and a web interface. The android app is also free to use.

Thanks so much - any recommendations on a VPN that would work for this?

[mtz_federico]

21 minutes ago, rgdesign said:

Thanks so much - any recommendations on a VPN that would work for this?

OpenVPN.

I recommend using NextCloud and if you can connect your laptop (server) via ethernet

[Mikensan]

I second openvpn, easy enough to setup and low resources. 

 

A little easier might be to use Zerotier - it's a direct machine to machine tunnel (similar to hamachi if you ever used it). You install it on your laptop, then whatever device you want to have direct access you just install it on those devices too.