Best way to share docs between desktop and laptop?

[kansasnoob]

I'm curious what others do. I'm not crazy about using a service like Dropbox or Google Drive because of security concerns so I still just copy and carry what I need on a flash drive. I also carry only what I need so very little (if any) sensitive info is in danger of theft or loss, and I'm especially cautious when I must use public wifi (going as far as switching off Bluetooth altogether). As I said I'm just curious what others do. Sometimes new tricks are the best tricks

[Bashing-om]

kansasnoob; Hey -

I am aware of some old tricks:
Have you seen:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2159449

SimpleHTTPServer for in-house works a treat

more ways to skin a cat

[uRock]

At home, it depends on the file size. I usually use SFTP for small files, but a USB drive for anything large or needed outside the LAN.

[sdsurfer]

I use samba and local networking for all local file transfers. I can connect to our Windows network computers as well as the desktop and laptop, both on Ubuntu 18.04. The windows computers can log on to shared Ubuntu directories as well.

[TheFu]

NFS on the same LAN, though I use rsync and Nextcloud that way sometimes. Also use Plex, Calibre for the stuff they do well.

Off the LAN, over the internet, there are many, many, different solutions. I use most of them.

• rsync
• scp/sftp
• sshfs
• NextCloud files/audio/video/photos
• Plex Server for media / audio/video/photos (using ssh SOCKS proxy; no plex account needed)
• Calibre Server for ebooks

For nextcloud to be accessible, I require either an ssh SOCKS proxy or full VPN connection. On a laptop running Linux, the SOCKS proxy is much easier. For android devices, the full VPN is easier. I barely use nextcloud for file stuff. It is too heavy and too slow for my purposes. I like knowing that files are actively being transferred and have a reasonable time for when that will complete. Nextcloud could work if I left my android devices in sync mode overnight, I suppose.

For media files on the LAN, I usually use a DLNA client that can 'download' the files. My portable devices are never considered system-of-record storage.

Nothing on any portable device is important, nor is it unencrypted. IMHO, all portable devices need strong encryption. I came to that choice after seeing a friend have 2 unlocked, no-password-needed smartphones stolen in 2 days on a trip to Europe.

To have off-line reading materials, I use something called wallabag. It is like a read-it-later webapp which a browser addon can sent to and grab a story for reading later, removing all the cruft. Then there is an android client that can sync all the stories down for reading on trips or in waiting rooms. Mark a story as read or deleted and the next sync will do the same on the server. It is very handy. I don't allow the wallabag server to be accessed over the internet ... without a ssh SOCKS proxy or full VPN.

About 95% of the time, I use rsync if NFS isn't available and sometimes I'll use rsync over NFS mounts.

If you have openssh-server setup on the "server", then any Linux client can use the default filemanager on that machine and use a URL like "sftp://{hostname.local}" to access the file system on the server with drag-n-drop. So, my hadar server would be accessed using sftp://hadar.local .... this makes all sorts of assumptions about avahi working. You can always use the IP address in the URL. Also, any ssh-keys will be used, if they are available, so you won't be asked for a password except to unlock the key. And ssh when used with keys is considered secure enough for use over the internet. 2 minutes to setup, 10 yrs of better security and convenience. ssh keys need to be replaced from time to time.
If it isn't obvious, ssh-keys work for any ssh-based connection, so ssh, sftp, scp, rsync, x2go, sshfs, and probably 50 others. vim can use rsync:// URLs to remotely edit files ... which uses ssh, so ssh-keys would be used.

ssh is how Unix systems communicate. Mastering the use of ssh-keys is a basic skill in the networked world, IMHO.

sshfs is a special-use tool for me. Suppose I've been working on a script on a machine that has hundreds of module dependencies. If the data files for that script are on another machine and the storage isn't NFS shared, then I'll mount using sshfs and run the scripts. Sometimes setting up the needed tools on the other systems is just too much hassle, so sshfs to the rescue. sshfs is slow, so it works for data and audio files, but definitely not for video. It is handy when working in a public library, to stream house music, for example. I'll also use it at the local LUG meetings to show some of the lesser known capabilities of ssh to newer members. Freaks them out a little.

[oldfred]

I swiched to NFS for internal transfers PC to PC.
I use flash drives for transfers remote locations, and multiple copies as backups.

I used to use laptop with XP. It seemed every Windows update and back then I did not use LTS, so every 6 month update to Ubuntu, I had to reconfigure Samba.
So I installed Ubuntu on laptop & started using LTS versions as main working install and have as part of my install scripts set up of NFS. And then a script to mount NFS paths & rsync data.

Some have said SSH would be easier for occasional use.
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread....2#post13498242

[SeijiSensei]

I'm curious what others do. I'm not crazy about using a service like Dropbox or Google Drive because of security concerns so I still just copy and carry what I need on a flash drive.

Have you considered renting a VM in the cloud that you can control? Linodes start at just $5/month.

Flash drives are still a good solution though.

[zimbuf]

I have an intel NUC I installed an ftp server on. Have the thing chrooted to a directory with that directory being write-only and the real ftp directory being a subdirectory (to protect against the roaring beast vulnerability, of course).

[kurt18947]

I don't use this for anything sensitive but for simple stuff a USB flash drive plugged into my router. I'm not sure about security implications of that setup.

[Tadaen_Sylvermane]

I keep all my stuff on my server at home. Everything is shared around the house with autofs mounts over nfs to each machine requiring them. Makes it easy to manage a single script instead of updating it on 3-4 machines each time.

Having a small machine act as a central storage makes life easy, need not be powerful.

For external outside the lan, flash drive. I rarely need to do this though.