Cloud Storage on an external hard drive - ideas?

FlaatusGoat

Just looking for some ideas on how I can consolidate my various laptops, PC's and phones onto one storage platform. I don't really want to have to upgrade to Google One and I've burnt through my most of my Mega storage. I've also got an old PC with about 300 GB of crap on it that I want to be able to access easily.

I'm thinking along the lines of a physical HD that connects to my Wifi, I can remotely access it whether it's accessing work files on my PC or viewing media/photos from my phone. I'm not necessarily looking for dedicated NAS features such as multiple users and different access levels (read/write/delete)

Ideally it would run 24/7 be pretty low power where I can chuck it in the loft and forget.

Any thoughts / ideas or deals?

Grey_Critic

The question I would ask first is how much of the stuff you have is actually relevent or needed. I recently had a session clearing out old files - clients we no longer had or had gone bust and almost doubled our free space. On a hard drive I use simply to keep old files I have done the same there with good results

Newcad

Does your wifi router/hub have a USB port? Most do these days.

I currrently have a 250GB SSD plugged into the USB port on my router. (Previously I had a 32GB thumbdrive in there doing the same job).

I have 'mapped' this as a network drive on each of my computers so that each can access it over the wifi.

To map the USB port on a router as a drive in Windows:

1. First you must turn on SMB1 or SMB2 file sharing, if it isn't already on:
   
2. On the computer go to Control Panel> Programs and features> Turn Windows features on or off.
3. Scroll down & tick the SMB 1.0 / SMB 2.0 box. (If there's a pullout tick all of the optoins).
4. Next open File Explorer.
5. Goto This PC and click the 'Computer' tab at the top.
6. On the ribon menu click Map Network Drive.
7. Give it drive letter, it's conventional to use Z, and the path to the router port.
   The path will be your routers IP address plus the port, something like \\192.168.1.254\usb1
8. You can rename the drive once it's showing in File Explorer if wanted.

The computer will now be able to access that drive over wifi and use it just like any other drive.
Do the same for the next computer.
It's slightly different for Mac or Linux, Android or iPhone, you'll find instructions online.

Personally I haven't bothered giving my Android phone mapped access to that drive, I can easily share and transfer files between my phone and my computers using CX File Explorer app on the phone; so as long as a computer is turned on I can get to the networked drive from the phone that way..

debitcardmayhem

Be aware smb 1 is not secure and windows will baulk that (it is possible, but not recommended) 

outtatune

My old Asus router had a facility to allow cloud access over the web to contents of a hard drive connected to the USB socket. You had to set up an account with Asus and that sorted out all the connection and share stuff, so you'd not have to do all the mapping stuff that @Newcad mentions.

Of course you'd need to trust that Asus had designed the router and software correctly so that you weren't exposing your data to anyone else, and also that you trusted Asus themselves with your data.

Newcad

debitcardmayhem said:

Be aware smb 1 is not secure and windows will baulk that (it is possible, but not recommended) 

Indeed SMB1 is not secure, because it does not support encryption. That's why it is turned off by default in Windows.
But it is still in Windows so that you can enable it - because it is useful/needed for doing certain things.
(The newer SMB2 and SMB3 also have their own vulnerabilities).
https://securityboulevard.com/2018/12/whats-the-problem-with-smb-1-and-should-you-worry-about-smb-2-and-3/

Realistically if someone can hack into your home network so that they are then able to access SMB you have bigger problems anyway.
If they can't login to a network then they can't access the SMB on that network.

It's more of an issue for large business that have remote locations on their networks than it is for a home user.

Of course it's your choice if you want to enable it or not, personally I have no worries about doing so.

[Deleted User]

FlaatusGoat said:

I'm thinking along the lines of a physical HD that connects to my Wifi, I can remotely access it whether it's accessing work files on my PC or viewing media/photos from my phone. I'm not necessarily looking for dedicated NAS features such as multiple users and different access levels (read/write/delete)

When you say "remote access" do you mean away from your home network? If so, it is hard to beat the likes of Google / OneDrive, etc for convenience, reliability, and security. 

Also, you need to think about a backup - how and where will you backup the shared file storage and ensure it remains up to date with changes/additions to your files? I always say to anybody buying hard drive storage to immediately double the budget and get 2 devices for backup purposes - ideally, a backup should be at a different location on different media - really should look at storing 3 copies. Around 100% of hard drives will fail at some point in their life .

What is your internet speed (upload not download)? Sharing files from home to a remote user sounds good until you realise you end up capped at say a measly 10 Mbps making it painfully slow.

Anyway, all that said I'm not trying to put you off self-hosting your own storage, I do exactly that and have around 32TB but still rely on cloud-based solutions to backup my most precious data to cover scenarios like lightning strikes, fire, flood, theft etc.

You say you don't want a NAS but everything you have asked for is a NAS (network-attached storage) so don't rule that out yet, they are sensible solutions for this type of storage and sharing. You say you don't want multiple users and different access levels - I say that is an absolute necessity to protect your data and you should not dismiss the security implications of unencrypted and insecure data sharing on a network.

Newcad said:
Realistically if someone can hack into your home network so that they are then able to access SMB you have bigger problems anyway. If they can't login to a network then they can't access the SMB on that network. It's more of an issue for large business that have remote locations on their networks than it is for a home user.

This is not true and is a rather naive approach to data security. People regularly get malware/ransomware on their home devices that can easily access unsecured file storage anywhere on the network. The famous WannaCry ransomware for example, actually mentioned in your link didn't need anybody to log on to your network.

Please don't store your precious data on a USB port on your router - it is like putting your valuables in an unlocked safe in your porch. Never use your "edge" devices for data storage - especially unencrypted and requiring no authentication to access.

And please don't use SMB v1.0 - even the guy at Microsoft that looks after SMB warns against anybody using it, can't see how anybody would take the advice from a stranger on a forum against that.

And finally not sure if I mentioned it, but backup your data now if you don't already, and certainly before experimenting with sharing it. 

Newcad

[Deleted User] said:

Newcad said:
Realistically if someone can hack into your home network so that they are then able to access SMB you have bigger problems anyway. If they can't login to a network then they can't access the SMB on that network. It's more of an issue for large business that have remote locations on their networks than it is for a home user.

This is not true and is a rather naive approach to data security. People regularly get malware/ransomware on their home devices that can easily access unsecured file storage anywhere on the network. The famous WannaCry ransomware for example, actually mentioned in your link didn't need anybody to log on to your network.

Actually it did.

It needed someone already logged onto the network to open an infected file, which as well as sending that users logon details back to the hackers also then spread across that particular network using other methods including SMB.

I do take your point, but my point is that to exploit the lack of encryption in SMB1 an attacker has to already have acces to the network somehow. Agreed that could be a user inadvertantly giving them access.

TBH the likes of wannacry are not interested in home users, they are after the whales not the krill.
For example millions of home users worldwide got a virus infection in 2017 through a very popular junk cleaning app.
Not a single one of those home users suffered any consequences, the perpetrators were after the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Samusung etc. which they knew also use that junk cleaner. It your computer wasn't at those big companies the virus did nothing.
In the end about 40 machines at various big businesses got a 'second stage' sent to them, although not confirmed it is believed that no consequence ever came of it other than a lot of panic on the internet.
Unlike wannacry which did cause a lot of grief for organisations.
(Although I know HNS workers who had wannacry on their XP computers at work I've never met anyone who was infected by wannacry at home)..

borse2008

Use Onedrive its easier cloud storage dosernt exist on a physical external drive