[SOLVED] Accessing files from a pc whilst off site

[adamgrant520]

At home I have a "server" (not really just an old pc which I'm using to store photos for my family) but you get the point.

It's working fine whilst on the same local network, but what I need now Is for my family to be able to access it and store photos on it and then live in a different house.

Now I have good knowledge of computing and IT but I'm a networking noob so I've turned to this place for help. The solution needs to be free and hopefully not too hard to setup. Security isnt priority, it's just cringe holiday pics and all I'm not worried about that front. Thanks for any help!

 

[SamirD]

Easiest free solution is put an ftp server on it and put it in your router's dmz.

 

[USAFRet]

At home I have a "server" (not really just an old pc which I'm using to store photos for my family) but you get the point.

It's working fine whilst on the same local network, but what I need now Is for my family to be able to access it and store photos on it and then live in a different house.

Now I have good knowledge of computing and IT but I'm a networking noob so I've turned to this place for help. The solution needs to be free and hopefully not too hard to setup. Security isnt priority, it's just cringe holiday pics and all I'm not worried about that front. Thanks for any help!

Security IS a priority.
Every public IP address gets scanned and attempted access, continually.
The default condition is that your router simply tosses those requests away. No problem.

But, if you open a port on the router to access a system inside the LAN....that when problems happen.
Unless the system is especially hardened, access from outside can do all sorts of weirdness.

And " just cringe holiday pics" ? Do you really want those all over the interweb?

Better to utilize a web service like maybe AMazon Prime. Upload your pics to there, and let them worry about the security. Give your family members the password to access.

 

[adamgrant520]

Security IS a priority.
Every public IP address gets scanned and attempted access, continually.
The default condition is that your router simply tosses those requests away. No problem.

But, if you open a port on the router to access a system inside the LAN....that when problems happen.
Unless the system is especially hardened, access from outside can do all sorts of weirdness.

And " just cringe holiday pics" ? Do you really want those all over the interweb?

Better to utilize a web service like maybe AMazon Prime. Upload your pics to there, and let them worry about the security. Give your family members the password to access.

Yeah free cloud storage is obviously easier. Judging from the research I have done this seems to be out of my league a little bit. I'll stick to keeping my "server" lan only for now. Thanks for the replies tho

 

[SamirD]

Yeah free cloud storage is obviously easier. Judging from the research I have done this seems to be out of my league a little bit. I'll stick to keeping my "server" lan only for now. Thanks for the replies tho

Depending on how old this 'server' is, it may not matter at all. At one point I had a windows 95 system using microsoft personal web server 1.0 that was only found on the actual install cd for a couple of years to host some html files. It's flaw was that it would crash after 32768 serves (obviously a coding/memory issue), but I was able to serve out at 500K/sec on a 486 system with 8MB of ram. And the number of modern exploits for such a system are practically non-existent. It's like trying to use a first gen cell phone today or trying to find some long wave radio stations playing modern music.

 

[adamgrant520]

Depending on how old this 'server' is, it may not matter at all. At one point I had a windows 95 system using microsoft personal web server 1.0 that was only found on the actual install cd for a couple of years to host some html files. It's flaw was that it would crash after 32768 serves (obviously a coding/memory issue), but I was able to serve out at 500K/sec on a 486 system with 8MB of ram. And the number of modern exploits for such a system are practically non-existent. It's like trying to use a first gen cell phone today or trying to find some long wave radio stations playing modern music.

Ahh that's not an issue lol, it's got nice hardware in it. I5 7400, 8gb ram and gtx 1060

 

[SamirD]

Ahh that's not an issue lol, it's got nice hardware in it. I5 7400, 8gb ram and gtx 1060

So that would be a problem--modern OSes have the most exploits pointed at them:
https://www.cvedetails.com/product/32238/Microsoft-Windows-10.html?vendor_id=26

Microsoft Windows 95 : CVE security vulnerabilities, versions and detailed reports

Microsoft Windows 95 security vulnerabilities, exploits, metasploit modules, vulnerability statistics and list of versions

www.cvedetails.com

 

[bill001g]

If you can get by with very simple file sharing you could try teamviewer. It is free to use for personal use and it has the ability to transfer files and run unattended. Its been years since I used it for this purpose so you need to see if they still do this. It is more secure than many other things but the teamviewer company has access if they wanted.