Creating a private cloud with just a USB thumbdrive

Ever dreamed of having your own personal cloud, where your files and media are available across all your devices, without breaking the bank? Let me share a game-changing solution that rivals costly alternatives.

Step 1: Connecting an old thumbdrive (aka pendrive) to the router

First things first, I plugged my old pendrive into one of the USB ports on my router. The router detects the USB automatically and this sets the stage for transforming my router into a hub of digital storage. You can also connect your hard drive.

Step 2: Tweak your router's settings

I went into my router's settings using my web browser. Then, I turned on a few things:

FTP Server: This let my Android phone connect to the router. Then to access the new ftp server I insatalled an app called "FtpCafe" which acts as a ftp client, this allows you to upload files from my phone to the pendrive directly.

Samba Server: This made the pendrive show up as a drive on my Mac, so I could get to my files from there.

DMS/DLNA: This one was for my smart TV. With it on, my TV could find and play media files from my personal cloud.
Step 3: Upload Files with FtpCafe

With the "FtpCafe" app, I could easily upload files from my phone to the pendrive connected to the router.

Step 4: Accessing media on your phone

I downloaded the VLC media player app on my Android phone. This let's you connect to the smb server or directly to ftp server and you can stream videos and music from personal cloud whenever you are connected to home wifi.

Step 5: Enjoy media on smart TV

With SMB server on you can also find and play media from personal cloud without any fuss. I tried this on my lg smart tv and it was seamless.

Step 6: Manage files from your mac

Lastly, if I needed to organize stuff on my Mac, I just opened Finder and found my router's Samba server listed as a network drive. From there, I could manage my files, upload new ones, and keep my personal cloud organized.

And just like that, I had created my own personal cloud using nothing more than a router and a pendrive.