8 Self-Hosted Cloud- Storage Solutions There are many reasons to choose your own solutions especially if you have sensitive data. What if the service you use shuts down, or your data is lost? - Raj Kumar Maurya

hy setup your own private cloud based ownCloud server via mobile and desktop apps. You can add storage when there are already options external storage to your ownCloud with , SWIFT, available like Drive, FTPs, Google Docs, S3, external WebDAV servers and more. WOneDrive, Dropbox, etc? The logic is the Enable the encryption app to encrypt data on external same as you would apply to any public vs private service. storage for improved security and privacy. They have tons You have more control over something you setup yourself, of plugins available, like music players, photo galleries, and including rights management, security of data, etc. Here video players. are eight private cloud storage solutions to try out. SparkleShare Creating a cloud on your own server gives you better It uses as a storage backend and is particularly good control on your data. Following are other reasons to at hosting documents. SparkleShare creates a special have your personal cloud storage solution: folder on your computer. When someone adds, removes • Better privacy protection and encryption: Avoid or edits a file, it will sync both host and all your peers. spying on your files on the server using encryption. It keeps a revision of the modified files history, as well • Good performance as your data is stored in local as support for encryption. It provides the Web interface storage instead of a remote . with file management and link sharing and Dropbox-style • Saving on your WAN bandwidth or the service synchronization. provider for a network. • Unlimited storage space or client connections. • Sharing your files and data with or without password or time limit be it publicly, or privately. ownCloud: It is a popular personal cloud solution and often referred as Dropbox replacement. It synchronizes your files to the private server. You can access your files globally from the

Syncthing It is an open-source client/server application, written in Go. It replaces proprietary sync and cloud services with something open, trustworthy and decentralized. Every node is identified by a strong cryptographic certificate. Only nodes that you have explicitly allowed can connect to your cluster. Syncthing doesn’t need IP addresses or advanced configuration, it just works over LAN and over the . Every machine pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest [email protected] SEPTEMEBR 2015 PCQuest 11 digitech

is identified by an ID. Just give your ID to you friends, share open-source and provides data encryption and incredible a folder and watch. flexibility in terms of storage type and provider. Backup your photo collection and share files with friends. Files are encrypted before uploading. Use any kind of storage - FTP, S3, WebDAV, NFS, /Windows file share and many more. It provides automatic/continuous file synchronization.

Pydio (formerly AjaXplorer) It is a stable software solution for and synchronization. Pydio and oqnCloud both have advanced web interfaces with wide range of plugins and intuitive user interfaces (web / mobile / desktop). Pydio provides web interface with file management and link sharing. It has enterprise grade legacy filesystems drivers and comprehensive admin interface. git-annex assistant The git-annex assistant creates a synchronized folder on each of your OSX and computers, Android devices, removable drives, NAS appliances, and cloud services. You can manage, share, and sync your large files with the power of git and the ease of use of a simple folder you drop files into.

Stacksync cloud storage It is an open-source scalable Personal Cloud that can adapt to an organization’s requirements and implements the basic components to create a synchronization tool. StackSync is a Dropbox-like open source synchronization tool that runs on top of OpenStack Swift. The storage back-end uses OpenStack Swift - open source cloud storage Syncany It allows you to securely backup and share certain folders of your computers using any kind of storage. Syncany is an

12 PCQuest SEPTEMEBR 2015 pcquest.com twitter.com/pcquest facebook.com/pcquest linkd.in/pcquest [email protected] software where you can store and retrieve lots of data in virtual containers. It’s based on the Cloud Files offering from Rackspace. But it is also possible to use other storage back-ends, such as a FTP server or S3.

Seafile It is very much like Pydio, but with lesser support in some file protocols as it doesn’t support samba. It also comes with a desktop client for all major OS. It provides both paid cloud version on their server and open source version which can be deployed in your own server. You can synchronize files and data with PC and mobile devices easily or use the server’s web interface for storage space or the number of connected clients to your managing your data files. There are no limits on data private cloud.

How they compare Provider Desktop clients Mobile Type Paid Encrypted Licence clients support stortage ownCloud Cross-platform (written 3 (Windows/ 3 (Android/ File cloud 3 (via Via App AGPLv3 in PHP & JavaScript) Mac OS X/Linux) Apple iOS) storage and data Enterprise - MS-Windows/Linux synchronization Edition) private server SparkleShare Cross-platform (written 3 ( MS- No (Android/ File and data N/A 3 GPL version in #) - MS-Windows/ Windows/Linux/ iOS on hold) synchronization 3 Linux/OS X OS X) Syncthing Cross-platform (written 3 (MS- 3 (Android/ File and data N/A 3 GPL in Go) - Linux, Mac OS Windows/Linux/ F-Driod) synchronization version 3 X, , OS X/OpeBSD Android, BSD, Solaris and Unix-like) git-annex Cross-platform - MS- No (porting) 3 (Android) File cloud N/A N/A GPL Assistant Windows(beta)/Linux/ storage and data version 3 OS X/FreeBSD/ synchronization private server Syncany Cross-platform (written 3 (Windows/ No File cloud N/A 3 GPL in JAVA - Linux, Mac OS Mac OS X/Linux) storage and version 3 X, Microsoft Windows, filesharing Android, BSD, Solaris application Pydio Cross-platform (written No 3 (Android/ File cloud 3 (via 3 GNU Public in PHP & JavaScript) Apple iOS) storage Professional License - MS-Windows/Linux and filesharing Edition) (Community private server Edition) Stacksync Cloud Linux 3 (MS- 3 (Android) File and data N/A 3 GPL Storage Windows/Linux/) synchronization version 2 Seafile Cross-platform (written 3 (Windows/ 3 (Android/ File cloud 3 (via 3 GPLv3 in C and Python) - MS- Mac OS X/Linux) iPad/iPhone) storage and data Professional (Community Windows/Raspberry Pi/ synchronization Edition) Edition) Linux private server

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