Computer Shopper - UK (2021-01)

121

ADVANCEDPROJECTS

ISSUE395|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2021

INSTALL THE

CLIENTAPPS

At the moment, all we have is a
way to access ourfilesvia aweb
browser,which is useful, but
whatwereallywant to do is set
up ourcomputerstosynchronise
files. Theway to do this is to
install the apps.
LogintoyourSynology NAS
using acomputer(you can use
the QuickConnect address). This
doesn’t have to be on thelocal
network and canbearemote
machine. Openupthe Synology
Driveapp,and click the Get
Synology Driveapps now link.
Yo u’ll then see apagethatgives
youthe option to downloadfor
your computer (PC or Mac) andfor
mobile. Click the PC or Mac link
to download the software, then
run theinstaller.Oncethis
completes, startthe software.
Yo u’ll be asked if you want to
create aSync Ta sk or aBackup
Ta sk. Thedifference is thatSync
workslikeDropbox, instantly
updating files as they change;
Backup Ta sk creates ascheduled
backup.Gofor Sync Ta sk to start with.
On thenextform, enter your
QuickConnect ID (the bit at the end of the
URLyou created, so ‘shoppermag’,for
example), then enter your Synology
username and password, andclick Next.
Thedefault option is to use asecure
connection,which you should leave ticked.
On the followingscreen, you’ll see which
files you’ll be synchronising on yourNAS
and wherethe local folder willbestored.
Yo ucan clickthe Edit icon to change where
your local folderisstored, and you can
click Advanced to choose whichNAS

folders youwanttosync. ClickNextand

Donetocompletethe setup.

Now,any files thatyou copy into the local

folder thatyou created areautomatically

saved to your NAS, andviceversa.You can

right-clickany fileand usethe Synology

Drive, Get Link optiontosharefiles straight

fromthe desktop,too.

Yo ucan downloadthe apps foriOS and

Android(they’recalledSynology Driveand

areinthe respective app stores) and login

using the same details, althoughyou should

turn on secureaccess as it’s not ticked by

default.The differencewith themobile apps

is thatthey act as viewers, and files arenot

savedtoyourdevice. Yo ucan also sharefiles

and foldersvia the mobileapps, too.

GOING OPEN SOURCE

If you don’t have aNAS and want to build

your owncloud fromscratch, you can do

this with ownCloud (owncloud.com). This

open-source softwarehas to run on Linux, so

is alittle trickier to set up forthe novice. Yo u

can download aVirtualBoximage fromthe

website, which will run as avirtual computer

on any existing computer, which givesyou a

slightly easier way to try it out. Yo ucan even

run it on aRaspberryPi, with

theDietPiinstaller(dietpi.com)

the simplest way to installit.

Adding storagecan be

trickier with ownCloud, but

you canadd networkshares

into the mix, letting you share

storage on aNAS thatdoesn’t

have itsown client software.

Once running, ownCloudhas

client apps for Windows, Mac,

iOSand Android thatall work

in asimilar way to Dropbox.

We have to stress that,

although it’s powerful,

ownCloud isn’tfor the

faint-hearted, and the

methodwe’ve shownyou

usingaNASisthe easiestway

to build your owncloud.

ABOVE:Youcan makeyour computer automatically back up to your NAS with the client software

ABOVE:OwnCloud is apowerful open-sourcefile-sharingserver, but it can be alittle tricky to set up and configure