File storage and sharing at home

[meetdilip]

Recently, I am seeing a lot of threads about NAS. While I appreciate what it do and how comfortable it is, I couldn't cope with the idea of spending that much electricity just for saving some effort. What I do currently is

1. Use a Pen Drive, move data that I want to use and plug it wherever needed

2. Share the folder so that it can be accessed over the WiFi network

The whole NAS thing looks expensive and hard to maintain.

Personally, I have a desktop with plenty of space where I store my media and share the whole folder when I need access it from TV over WiFi.

I have a question here. Will I be able to access the storage of a Windows 10 desktop without monitor, keyboard and mouse over a WiFi network ? ie, I will simply switch ON the CPU/cabinet and I can access the stored data from another PC running Ubuntu or Windows 10 ?

a. How to login ?

b. How to shutdown when the usage is over ?

c. Can I move files from other PC to the storage PC over WiFi ?

The whole idea is to use a spare PC's storage when required. Simply power it on, access the stored media from PC or VLC in Android TV.

Kindly let me know the possible ways of doing this.

 

[Nerevarine]

Right click folder share, Recheck advanced sharing settings and maake sure file sharing is enabled.
Go to other pc, try to locate your shared PC from network folder, double click, enter password and voila done.
You can access your shared PC via phone also, download a file explorer like solid explorer, create a new share tab, click smb and search network for your shared PC.

From Ubuntu, you might need to access samba to gain access, unsure as I have never created a share from windows and access via ubuntu

If you do Nas via sbc, it won't take that much electricity.. atleast in theory

Sbc ~10w
HDD with enclosure ~ 24w
Total 34w per hour

Total per month = 34*30*24 = 24480
Divide by units = 24480/3600 = 6.8 kwh
In rupee = 6.8*7 = Rs 47.6

Anyone can confirm if calc above is right ?

 

[meetdilip]

If you do Nas via sbc, it won't take that much electricity.. atleast in theory

Thanks. What is sbc ?

PS : I still need to figure out how to auto-login and initiate shut down when the requirement is done.

 

[Nerevarine]

you can easily initiate shutdown by the autoshutdown plugin in OMV.
There are multiple ways of doing it (by time, by network, by protocol etc.)
You can even power on your server remotely if your setup supports wake-on-lan.

SBC is short for single board computers. Raspbery pi is most common

 

[meetdilip]

I installed Ubuntu 18.04 on the spare desktop. Hopefully, it will be easy to link as remote storage for my main Ubuntu machine.

1. I have auto-login enabled

2. I need to find a way to access the machine

Can it simply be a shared folder ? Or is there a better / safer method for accessing a remote Ubuntu 18.04 machine in the local network ?

Currently, I am thinking of just putting media files in the storage server and then take it back when required.

3. I am still to figure out a method to shut down my storage server. Hopefully, it is easier in Ubuntu than Windows.

As of now, I am planning to manually switch ON and OFF the CPU.

 

[Nerevarine]

If your NAS is Ubuntu, install samba and create a share.
Tutorial here..
Install and Configure Samba | Ubuntu tutorials

 

[meetdilip]

Just curious, can't we simply right-click the folder and use " Local Network Share " ? When I did that, I Samba got installed by itself ( after asking my permission to " install a service " ).

Still to figure out the shut it down part.

 

[meetdilip]

Using SSH seems to be a viable option for shutting down remotely within the network

*linuxize.com/post/how-to-enable-ssh-on-ubuntu-18-04/

 

[Nerevarine]

yeah ssh is a way of doing it, a better way is to write a socket that would monitor a port for a shutdown command.

The way I have implemented is, I only need to shutdown when power is down, and I need to do it gracefully.
So i have modem hooked directly to power conduit and NAS and Storage hooked to UPS. Whenever network goes down, it auto shuts down.

 

[meetdilip]

Is there any GUI based method ? Something like a web panel ? Or are there any NAS panels which we can use over Ubuntu ?

 

[icebags]

if you can get hold of a pie board computer, then use can use a PD. it wont use much of electricity.

if you are good at programing, you can try to setup an ESP32. it will require some bit of technical expertise and some degree of bugging debugging. with c++ / python and /or web techs.

 

[meetdilip]

Luckily everything got set up fine and working well. There is one glitch I am facing. The transfer through WiFi seems to be slow and it takes hours when we need to transfer a few GBs. I am fine with that. I can leave both the main machine and server running all night and get the transfer done. But sadly, I am facing connection timed out error. I am afraid that is corrupting the transfer. Is there any way to keep the server active during transfer ? Is it going idle ? It has 18.04 desktop version on it. Thanks.

 

[Nerevarine]

Connection timed out when copying files ? That seems unlikely to happen, can you check power settings in both devices ?
Also slow connection might be because of your wifi standard. Your router may be a 'n' wifi, and/or your devices may be having 'n' capability only.

IF you have 'ac' capability on both ur devices and router, your wifi speeds will be increased significantly.

 

[meetdilip]

That is true. It is 2.4 GHz, N type. I was just reporting the experience. If I can route it properly, I might switch to LAN cable for better speed.

Connection timed out when copying files ? That seems unlikely to happen, can you check power settings in both devices ?

I will do that. Thanks.

Edit :

Under power settings, there was an option called " Switch off WiFi to save power ". It was ON by default. Not sure it will be active when both devices are on AC power.