Looking for a good way to share files from my home internet connection?
Looking for a good way to share files from my home internet connection?
You are not sure what they need. Is this data to be shared among many different houses and users? Should it run on its own program, or just inside your current Windows computer? I have a QNAP NAS for exactly this job. It has about 85 terabytes of storage. There are lots of folders and drives in there that get mapped to different drive letters from the house computers. For example, an "S" drive is on the NAS and maps to a space on my computer. All I have to do is save a file to the S drive, and it shows up instantly for everyone. This works with Windows, Linux, Android, whatever they use. It also includes backups from all the house systems every night or week. A dedicated NAS from QNAP or Synology, or something you build yourself with FreeNAS (or another thing) as the operating system.
So a NAS is basically the standard way to do this, I'm gathering. What I was hoping for is a 3rd party program (let's call it BOB) where you could tag certain folders or whole drives as "share using BOB". Then you could open up BOB on any PC on the network and see a listing of all folders shared to BOB, no matter which one that is (any number of scattered drives). I was hoping to keep all the shared folders right there where they are now without having to copy or move them. So for example, I could map the "Movies" folder on my external hard drive in the basement to BOB, and then the PC upstairs connected to a TV could simply use its version of BOB to see the folder from downstairs and run the movie files over the network.
That would just be easy File/Folder sharing inside Windows. It mostly works, but the computer needs to stay online all day or you have to use FTP (which takes more setup). A dedicated NAS is exactly what this is for. My QNAP also stores my movies and music. You can access them from anywhere in the house. Even from that little HTPC PC that feeds the TV. This holds the folder of dinner recipes, it grabs any downloads you make with your browser, etc. Once set up right and mapped to drive letters, your movie library feels just as easy to find inside Windows like when it's stored at /Users/Videos on my computer.
My home router has a USB slot where I can plug in an external drive. This makes the computer share it instantly so everyone in my network can see and use it. In Windows Explorer, it shows up as a new network drive, and all family members can access it easily. It's really straightforward to set up. Maybe you should think about this option for your own setup. You could even buy an external USB port if your current router doesn't have one handy. This is just another way to get around the Windows feature without having to do anything extra on your end.