this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2025
82 points (88.7% liked)

Selfhosted

55502 readers
879 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

  7. No low-effort posts. This is subjective and will largely be determined by the community member reports.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I’ve got a server, a friends got a server, what’s the best way to share stuff between the two?

top 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 55 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Station wagon full of tapes.

[–] non_burglar@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I don't know... I'm skeptical of its bandwidth.

[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 27 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Surprised no one just said Samba or NFS over a tunnel (Tailscale, WireGuard, etc).

Or by “sharing” do you mean keeping files synced between the two for replication?

[–] AuroraZzz@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Using a tunnel is definitely the way to go and very easy to set up. Please don't share over https if you don't know what you are doing

[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 2 points 2 months ago

Even worse, don’t use the suggested Samba, NFS without a tunnel either! You should probably have the default ports blocked at the router.

[–] mike_wooskey@lemmy.thewooskeys.com 20 points 2 months ago (2 children)

If you're wanting to share all files, many of the methods already mentioned work well. If you're wanting to share specific files, CopyParty is a good way to go.

[–] 48954246@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Absolutely this OP. Have a quick watch of the feature showcase video and you will see just how perfect this is for your needs

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Yeah this right here looks exactly what I was looking for.

Been transferring files for sometime over a Wireguard connection, but it’s a bit of a pain to use so I’ve been looking for something better.

Appreciate the tip @mike_wooskey@lemmy.thewooskeys.com

[–] N0x0n@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

The documentation gives me yt-dlp PTSD 😶

[–] drkt_@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 2 months ago

Exposing it over HTTP ensures all can access, but that's my best solution. I don't know what your intentions are, or what your pain-points are, or what you're willing to deal with, or what your data is and if it poses a risk to you personally to have it exposed.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

SFTP or WebDAV would work.

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

Yeah, forwarding a port to a server with SFTP allows you both to have two-way links. Have done this with some of my friends as well.

Sneakernet via a HDD is also damn helpful for initial bulk transfers.

[–] darkreader2636@lemmy.zip 14 points 2 months ago

You can't beat the bandwidth and reliabilty of mailed ssd's

[–] randombullet@programming.dev 12 points 2 months ago

We use Tailscale to share between accounts.

But for large transfers I use an encrypted HDD.

[–] testfactor@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago
[–] aichan@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

LAN party!! You have the optimal excuse to make one happen ;)

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

May as well crack out DC++ and start heading your files.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Flash drive in person.

They take what they want, you do the same. Boom both are better off.

[–] Hello_there@fedia.io 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Export the titles of files and ask them to pick then mail a 1tb USB drive back and forth

[–] RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Or just meet and maintain that friendship

[–] lps2@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago

Depends how close they are. Most of my friends (that are into self-hosting and collecting Linux ISOs) are across the country / world. So mailing encrypted SSDs works best for large transfers and nextcloud for small transfers

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

If you want a quick and easy way to share the odd file you could set up a syncthing shared folder and COPY things in to it that you want to share. When the other side MOVES them out of the shared folder they will be removed from the shared folder on your side.

The advantage of this is security. No access is given to your system. If your friends box is compromised you dont have an nfs mount or ssh key on their machine. The worst that can be done to you is copies in the shared folder are removed or malicious files are placed in the shared folder but they wont be able to execute.

You also dont need to open any ports for syncthing , it will use relays if it cant make a direct connection.

[–] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

SFTP has been mentioned and is a good choice but this could also be done over torrents too. It’s the other most common legal use besides Linux distros.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Get 'em in the same room together, put on some Barry White, and let the magic happen.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 months ago

For large volumes of data, nothing beats shipping a large external drive (with a fast interface) from location to location.

[–] Black616Angel@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 months ago

You could also set up a jellyfin (for media) or gameyfin (for games) container, expose that to the internet and give them credentials.

[–] boletus@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

Sync thing has been great and convenient for me. Use tailscale, zero tier or just raw wire guard to see each other

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago

If you want to run a mirror, rsync over ssh is one of the simplest ways.

[–] 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 months ago

You could set up a tunnel between the two.. a job that rsyncs a folder to the other server automatically when something is added.

Just a thought.

[–] irmadlad@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Just a feeling I get, but open directories and hoarders are going to become more popular.

[–] goatinspace@feddit.org 2 points 2 months ago
[–] Antagnostic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] droolio@feddit.uk 4 points 2 months ago

FXP

Oh wow, there's a name I ain't heard in a while.

Maybe not the best place to ask but, who's down for similar? The how can be discussed

[–] determinist@kbin.earth 2 points 2 months ago

@cannedtuna@lemmy.world

Messenger Pigeons.

[–] JoeBidet@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago
[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 1 points 2 months ago

Define share?

Keep all files in sync between two points?

Enable ad-hoc access to all files, or a subset?

[–] Unsealed9041@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

You could do tailscale shared nodes and share just your jellyfin servers that way.