Using FTP to Access Your Personal Cloud

This article will help you setup FTP on your Personal Cloud



This Is for Advanced Users Only

Turning the Service on:

Finding a Target:

Accessing the NAS:


Turning the Service on:

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There are a few things that you need to do in order to access your NAS via FTP.

  1. Log in to the Personal Cloud as the admin of the device. To do this on a  PC—In Windows or File Explorer under Networks, click PersonalCloud. To do this on a Mac—In Finder under Shared, click PersonalCloud. Open the Public folder and then double-click Personal Cloud. 
    Note: If the drive does not show up in Explorer or Finder open a web browser and type in http://PersonalCloud. That should take you to the admin page of the device.
  2. Navigate to Device Manager > Services.
  3. Enable the FTP service.
  4. If your router supports UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), then enable Automatic Port Forwarding. Do this by navigating to Network > Port Forwarding; there should be a green radial dot indicating that the service is on.
  5. If your router does not support UPnP, then you will need to manually forward an unused external port. To do this, first find an unused external port (ex. port 1800). You will then take that port and forward it to port 21 on the drive. Note: Please consult the manufacturer of your router for instructions on port forwarding.  If your router does not support UPnP, then make sure you set up the Personal Cloud with a Static IP. You can do this under Device Manager > Network > Connection. Choose Edit, then set the IP configuration to Manual. 
  6. Make note of the external port you are using for FTP (ex. port 1800). You will need this when accessing your device.


Finding a Target:

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Now that the service is on and ports are forwarded properly, you need a target. Once you have set up a target, you can then use that to access your NAS. 

Get your external IP address from your router. The steps for this process are listed below.
Note: Your external IP address can and will change. If you use this method, make sure you re-check your external IP every few days to be safe. Searching What's My IP should provide you with this information.

Note: Use the link to help determine your external IP address.

a. Log in to your router. If you are not sure how to log in to your router, please contact your router's manufacturer. 
b. Once you are logged in you are going to look at the connection properties. You're looking for the Internet connection information. This is the IP address your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has assigned to you. Write this down and move to the Accessing the NAS step. 

Note: At this point you should have your external IP address and the port number you are going to be using (ex. 87.142.36.57:1800).
 

 

Accessing the NAS:

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There are two ways to access your NAS via FTP. Instructions for both are listed below. 

1. Through an FTP client. 

a. Download the client. A client such as FileZilla or Smart FTP will work. 
​b. Enter the required information and connect to your device.
Helpful Links: How to use FileZilla and How to use Smart FTP.
 
2. Through a web browser. Note: This is not the recommended way of using FTP.
a. To access your Personal Cloud through a web browser, it should look something like this: ftp://YourFtpUser:YourFtpUserPassword@yourdomain.com
Helpful Link: Using a Web browser for FTP Access