What is the best way to share files from my home computer (without relying on a third party website)?

Question

I'd like to install some software on my home server (linux/openfiler or windows) which will give me an interface to access/upload files. There should be user authentication involved so it isn't just completely public. It would almost be like a host your own fileupload site.

What software can allow me to do this?

Answer 1

Tonido is great (and free) software you can run on any computer (Mac/Windows/Linux) to host your files and even some other cool apps. It handles setting up user accounts, limiting access, and even gives you a domain to access your computer from (eg http://yourcomputer.tonidoid.com). I use it all the time and love it. For more information read the What is Tonido? page.

Answer 2

I haven't played with it, but was just reading about Opera Unite. I have to confess that in my heart-of-hearts I think it is the goofiest thing ever, it actually might just do the trick for what you're after...

Answer 3

You can use a free FTP server/client such as FileZilla.

Just remember that FileZilla Server is Windows only, while the client is for all platforms.

Answer 4

The first thing you have to accept is that you're putting a machine directly on the internet. Even if you have your machine behind a router and are using your router's port forwarding features to direct specific traffic through, you're still decreasing your network security a little bit.

Now that we're past that very important disclaimer...

My approach would be to have a linux or BSD machine running sshd. Configure sshd to allow sftp, but only for very specific users. Keep your OS and openssh components up to date.

For remote access, you can use any file transfer program which supports SFTP (e.g. Filezilla)

I'm not familiar with openfiler, but this looks like it acts as a network share on your LAN. It's likely listening on a specific port. You may be able to route traffic for that port specifically to the openfiler server.

If you're just looking for upload/download, I think sticking with a simple, proven package like openssh is a better way to go.

Answer 5

for music files you can use subsonic for text and documents, I personally would use FTP like filezilla but there are other web interface based options that let you, usually only download from your home computer.

if your running linux, definitely use FTP for letting other download files. And set up SSH for administration. winSCP is a good client (windows based) for ssh, sftp, ftp, and SCP onto a linux box.