NAS Drives

ah5168

ah5168

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I am getting larger and larger video files to send out and was wondering if it would be possible to copy the files to a NAS drive and let people download the files from there. My main concern is that most of the NAS drives I have seen appear to need the recipient to download an app rather tan just a link to the data.

Is it possible to set up a NAS to operate with browser access, if so are there any drives that are better suited to this than others.
 
I think a better way might be to use a pro dropbox account.
you can then get proper folder control access to your clients.

you set a local folder on your NAS as the replicate site and put the files in each access control folder and whizz them the details.
 
I'd agree with the use of Dropbox. It's what I use. Upload to Dropbox and then email the link to file to the client.
 
You could use a NAS but unless you have a leased line you upload speed is limited. go with an online provider like ProDropbox. Look at ftp sites too
 
How big are the files?
 
admirable said:
How big are the files?
Click to expand...

The total amount of data could be up to 90GB in 4GB files.

I have looked at the drop box option and it's around the same price as 1TB NAS drive, plus I have to upload everything to the dropbox and the client then has to download it so I am guessing it takes a lot longer than them just downloading it direct from my NAS drive.
 
ah5168 said:
The total amount of data could be up to 90GB in 4GB files.

I have looked at the drop box option and it's around the same price as 1TB NAS drive, plus I have to upload everything to the dropbox and the client then has to download it so I am guessing it takes a lot longer than them just downloading it direct from my NAS drive.
Click to expand...

It might be a faster download from Dropbox unless your internet connection has a high upload speed (when they download, you upload) and normally upload speeds are slower than down.
 
You need to remember that some folk have a limit on their total download monthly limit BT's average is 20GB per month so they may incur extra charges if they go over?
 
How would your broadband cope with more than one person accessing files/the NAS at a time (e.g. If some one has shared a link via social media, or trying to download to a second destination)?

Can you guarantee the rest of your home network is locked down (and will remain so) from casual and not so casual visitors?

Do you have a business grade connection with static IP address to ensure your links remain valid?

As some involved with various small business network connections I would outsource this headache to Dropbox or a cloud provider who do it day in, day out.
 
As said the problems with NAS are as follows:

Your upload speed (or lack of it) will impact the users download speed.
You need to figure out opening firewall ports and port forwarding to your NAS through your router (assuming this would be SMB, and with the Wanacry issues recently you really want to do that?). Also restricting potential malicious traffic could be problematic.
Your internet will be slow while users download the files.

Really you'll need a leased line with good upload and a pretty good firewall, preferably with DMZ option to do it right. Static IP isn't really required, you can do the same with DynDNS etc.

Something hosted on the cloud would be better, at least your internet will only be slow the once when you upload and not several times while the users do their download.
 
Hosting large files for others to download would not be practical with a standard connection - as Neil has quite rightly said. You'd be far better looking at Dropbox, Google Drive or Onedrive. Look for a NAS that supports either one of these - it will be able to upload your files overnight allowing you to put your laptop or desktop to sleep. Then - by sharing the link for the folders or files you want to share - the downloading will be faster for those who want to download it, and won't clog up your bandwidth as it won't involve your connection. In fact people will also be able to stream your video in a compressed / cut down version if they choose as opposed to downloading the full format video.
 
Rent a VPS with a decent amount of storage.
Throw up Apache2/Nginx as a webserver - then people can download the files via HTTP using their browser. Or install a WebApp like bozon which will allow you to setup accounts for people so they can upload/download files themselves. Or maybe look at OwnCloud/NextCloud if you want syncing software.
 
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