When I talk about cloud storage, we immediately think of Dropbox or Google Drive, which is the most used services in the sector to keep a copy of files on remote servers, so that you can access them at any time. But those who control these servers "> we can create personal cloud storage, so that we can use our computer or NAS as a server. In this way we will not have to pay any subscription for the cloud space (which depends solely on the capacity of the disks used) and we will be able to keep the files in a known place, precisely our computer or NAS configured as a cloud server.
In this guide we will then show you how to create a personal Cloud Server on your PC, unlimited and free, using the platform offered by Syncthing .
Creation of the personal server
To begin with we will have to get a computer or NAS to use as a personal server: an old desktop computer is also fine, the important thing is that it has at least the following technical characteristics:
- CPU: dual-core or higher
- RAM: at least 4 GB
- Hard disk: at least 1 TB
- Internet connection via Ethernet
Our server will be located near the home modem, so that you can use the cable connection (no Wi-Fi in this case). As an operating system for the server we can use both Windows and a GNU / Linux distribution, since Syncthing is available as a multi-platform program. If we want to use Windows as the operating system behind our cloud server, we recommend you read our guide on how to install Windows 10 from USB . If instead we want to use a GNU / Linux distribution, we recommend reading our guide //navigawebtest.blogspot.com/2019/05/how-to-install-linux-ubuntu-su-pc-da.html.
Between the two, we recommend using Ubuntu in creating your personal cloud server, because it lends itself better to being used as a server thanks to the good stability and immunity to Windows viruses.
How to install Syncthing server
Whatever the operating system used for our server, we download the Syncthing installer from the official page, by clicking on SyncTrayzor to download the Windows version and on Debian / Ubuntu packages to download the version compatible with Ubuntu (the Linux distribution chosen for the guide); in the latter case we can also launch the following commands from the terminal to install the program on Ubuntu:
- sudo apt install curl
- curl -s //syncthing.net/release-key.txt | sudo apt-key add -
- echo "deb //apt.syncthing.net/ syncthing stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get install syncthing
After each line, press Enter on the keyboard, enter the system password and confirm with Y or S on the keyboard when prompted by the terminal.
For the rest of the guide we will show you only the steps to configure the server on Ubuntu: if we used Windows, the steps are practically identical so we can configure it without too much trouble.
After installation we can open the Start Syncthing app from the Ubuntu Show Applications menu and then select the Syncthing app. A browser window will open, where we will have access to the configuration panel of our cloud server.
In order to add the server to the clients that we will see below, we recover the ID code by clicking on the top on Actions -> Show ID ; let's sign this code, it will be of fundamental importance to be able to add the devices to our cloud.
How to install Syncthing client on other PCs
Now that the server is ready, we can proceed with the configuration of the other computers or our smartphones and tablets, so that we can synchronize all our personal files via the Internet (including the photos we take with our phone).In order to add a computer to the personal cloud, we install Syncthing as already shown in the section reserved for the server and, once the program is started, click on the bottom right on Add remote device .
In the new page we insert the ID code retrieved from the server, we enter a name to recognize it and we click Save at the bottom; we repeat the steps for all the computers we want to add to our cloud.
After doing this we go back to the server and add the folders to be shared on our cloud, click Add folder, choose a name to give the label, then go to the Shares tab and select all the computers added so far (they will be created on the others computer folders and all files will be automatically synchronized); now all we have to do is click on the bottom of Save .
In order to effectively replace any cloud service, we recommend that you create Music, Pictures, Videos and Documents folders, so that we can correctly catalog the files we want to save in our cloud.
How to install Syncthing client on smartphones and tablets
If we also want to add the files stored on our smartphone or tablet to our personal cloud, we download the Syncthing app, available for free for Android (support for iPhone and iPad is not currently available).
After installation, we open the app, we grant the required permissions (i.e. access to internal memory and location, the latter useful for immediately finding new servers on the network), so as to find us with the app interface.
Basically, the app immediately creates the synchronization for the Camera folder ( DCIM ), that is the folder of the Android operating system where all the photos and videos saved with the cameras of the device are saved.
First we add the cloud server to the device, going to the Devices tab and tapping on the top of the + button .
Enter the ID code obtained from the server or tap on the QR code symbol and scan the code shown in the window seen a little while ago (where the server ID code was present); then choose a name and confirm the addition by pressing the button at the top right ( Confirm ). Now that the server is added, let's start synchronizing the folder with the photos and videos by going back to the Folders tab, tapping on Camera and selecting the server (or all the other PCs available in our cloud).
To make the cloud very effective, make sure that Send only is active as the Folder type and that the item Monitor changes is active. To confirm, simply click Confirm at the top to start synchronizing the photos and videos on our server and on any other PC inserted in the cloud.
To add other Android folders to the synchronization, let's go to the Folders tab and tap on the top right of the + button .
Conclusions
Syncthing is currently the best method to create a personal and unlimited cloud, taking advantage of the space made available by a central server that we manage personally (so we will always know where our files are). Obviously the best performance with our cloud server is obtained by choosing a computer powerful enough for the purpose and having a fast Internet line (at least 50 Mega in download and 20 Mega in upload).If we are looking for valid alternatives to Syncthing, we can read our guide to the best programs to turn your computer into a cloud file server .
Among these, the best alternative to create a personal cloud server without limitations is Tonido, the Cloud drive at home to have the online hard disk without limits
If instead we need to create a multimedia server to add to our home network, we can continue reading on the guide to Create a video streaming server on your computer .
