2

Things I have:

raspberry pi

android phone

Pi connected to the internet at all times

What i want to achieve:

Using android app to send a file to raspberry pi (over internet), storing it on a hard drive connected to the raspberry pi, then at request transfering files to the same or different phone with that android app installed.

Is this possible? Do I need a server for this?

In short: can i make 'google drive' on my raspberry pi?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

I use Owncloud for a similar use case. As for Google Drive, OneDrive, ... you need a dedicated app (existing for iOS or Android) or you can access your own Owncloud with the browser. For desktop existing clients for Windows, OSX and Linux.

For installing the Owncloud server on your RPi you need a Webserver with PHP support. If you want to access the files over internet, i'd suggest to use HTTPS. You can use self signed SSL certificates or a SSL cert from a trusted CA.

Here is a tutorial for setting up a Owncloud with "Let's encrypt" certificates

and here a tutorial for self signed certificates

My Owncloud is running with self signed certificates, but the Let's encrypt certificates should be now the preferred solution (nevertheless it's good to learn more about generation of certificates). In my idea, if you just want to share few files with few persons a SQLite3 data base is sufficient. As storage you can use a flash drive for storing the files, this will minimize IO on your SD card.

Improve this answer
2
  • Looks good to me. Might it be worth including a small caveat re: upload bandwidth and expected performance relative to Google et. al? I've played around with serving content from my house (Glasgow, UK) and it's a truly miserable experience.
    – goobering
    Aug 3, 2016 at 10:57
  • 2
    yes in this approach has many bottle becks. first is the internet connection that mostly limit the transfer speed. if you are one of the lucky ones with more than 100mbit up/down connection, you need to face the fact that the Pi has only 100m ethernet and the storage is connected with usb2. but this approach shouldn't be thought as full google drive replacement. just a small local storage.
    – Joe Platano
    Aug 3, 2016 at 14:22

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.