File transfer protocol?

[poindextermatic]

I have no idea what this means but it sounds like what I may want...
Q: How do I transfer large files (500MB+) from my computer to my friends computer at the other end of England?? We both have broadband. Is there some way to set up a transfer? Some peer to peer software or somthing?
Thanks.

[nichomach]

OK, FTP is one way to do it; you would need an FTP server at one end or the other.

Example: You want to regularly transfer files to your friend. Your friend runs an FTP server, e.g. Cerberus and creates a user account for you. You connect to his FTP server from any FTP client and upload your file.

Example 2: You want to make files available to your friend to download. You run an FTP server, publish the files you want him to download in a folder on it, create him a user account and then he can download them from any ftp client, say CoffeeCup.

If you're both on ISPs that don't give you a fixed IP address, then you may find it useful if the end of the connection that's running the server registers with someone like DynDNS so that even if the IP address changes, you can always connect to a specific hostname.

[Paul Adams]

An alternative is something I've not personally used, but is supposed to be convenient:
http://www.yousendit.com/

Files up to 1Gb, virus scannd and available for download for 7 days apparently.

[nichomach]

Cool; haven't run across that, well done Paul.

[turkster]

Very handy link that

Looks like you can have multiple recipients too although it doesnt say how many.

[poindextermatic]

Cheers guys!!

[ajbrun]

So could I use Cerberus in this senario?

I go to uni, but forget to take my memory stick with me. There's an important file on there that I need. I connect to the FTP server (Cerberus), and download the needed file.

Also, if I brought another hard drive that was externally powered, would there be someway to connect that to my router, so files could be shared and my PC be off? It would also be necessary to sutomatically backup certain parts (or maybe all) of my main HDD to the backup one. I don't usually leave my PC on, unless it's needed you see .

Is that possible? If not, it's not a big problem - I usually remember my memory stick anyway.

I'd just like to stress that this isn't important - just useful if it can be done cheaply and easily.

[daniel_owen_uk]

I think it is possible that you can get NAS (network attached storage) with WAN side FTP access, but not really sure where you get one, and probably not gonna be cheap.

[Paul Adams]

If I were to implement any kind of FTP solution I would make it so users download files from the server and have no permissions to create files (so in the case of your friend needing a file from you, you have the FTP server and he pulls the file from your end).

FTP authentication and data communication is unencrypted natively (there are implementations of "secure FTP" but I'd rather use regular FTP through an SSH tunnel as it's more flexible) - this is something to be aware of.

Took a quick glance at the Cerberus product and it includes fixing source IP addresses of clients that can connect - useful if your clients have static IPs so you can define this.


In the case of a NAS device I assume it would only be connected on a LAN, not have its own dirty connection, and I have no idea what the security features on the built-in FTP services would be like (never played with them).

Having a NAS device as a local backup store is one thing, not sure I would feel comfortable having it accessible from the Internet though...