Tonido Personal Cloud
Tonido is a self-hosted personal cloud, that squares off against products like Go To My PC, and DropBox. It leverages your existing hardware, file system and internet to give you access to your files anywhere.
Features
When the folks at Tonido say anywhere, they truly mean anywhere. The built in web interface is quite powerful, and so far in my tests has been accessible even across multiple internet providers, and cellphone data providers. Having said that, you will need to know how to port forward. Setup is relatively easy otherwise, a simple setup file walks you through the entire process and even adds firewall rules if you happen to be using a server setup. Add the built-in permissions and ability to add users, and you have one amazingly powerful personal cloud.
Does it work?
Yes. Tonido does a great job of doing exactly what the set out to do. File access from the web is a breeze. They set you up with a sub-domain and route it directly to your machine. Now, here’s the first caveat; each machine you want to access will have a different setup, and a different name. Depending on your use case, this could be a good thing. If you’re an advanced user (which chances are if you’re reading this, you are) you can get around this by using mounted network drives. With the personal use edition, you are limited to a single log in and password. This can put somewhat of a damper on things if you’re using this for your household. Again, there are ways around this, by sharing folders and adding guest accounts. Sharing permissions also include an expiration date if you want. Tonido also has a sync application, so that you can use it like OneDrive and DropBox. Keep in mind though, your data is only as safe as the machine you install the software on. If you’re using a surplus hard drive with no RAID or data redundancy, you’re asking to lose data. Sync Folders for the most part work well. Sometimes though the Sync Folder doesn’t actually show up in certain programs as a direct “save to” option. You can get around this by saving to the desktop and then dropping it in manually to the Sync Folder, however this does get annoying at times.
The low down
Tonido is a great FREE self-hosted cloud solution. I’ve added it into my own arsenal of self-hosted services. Applications are available on iOS, Android and even Windows Phone to access your Tonido cloud from anywhere. Setup was easy, quick, and their interface is easy to use. Tonido gets a B. They lose some points for the Sync Folder issues noted above, and at time of writing their Ubuntu Sync Folder app does not work, it will install, but fail to load. After 10+ hours of research, trial and error, I was unable to find a solution. Hopefully in the future this will be fixed. Until then, happy computing!
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Check them out below:
http://www.tonido.com
TonidoSync Folders work great with Mint! I replaced the main OS on my laptop to Mint a few weeks back and earlier today tried (mostly out of curiosity) to install and configure TonidoSync. It works, so far, flawlessly. Changes between my laptop and desktop happen inside of about a minute.
There is one caveat I failed to note in my review. You are limited to 2GB for your Sync Folder. It seems like your data passes through their servers on their way to you. Also I never heard back from their support about Ubuntu. I may be looking for other Linux friendly options, that don’t pass data back to HQ, shortly. Cheers!
Howdy! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
We do indeed have a Twitter handle. @TTP_NET
I’m glad you’re enjoying it. We’ll definitely be updating it as much as possible. Cheers!
Amazing blog! Do you possess any tips and hints for aspiring
writers? I’m hoping to get started on my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
Do you suggest starting with a totally free platform like WordPress or take a
paid option? There are numerous options on the market that I’m completely overwhelmed ..
Any tips? Cheers!
Hi Abram. We use a paid host, but WordPress for the actual site. Honestly the paid portion is mostly for e-mail reasons, I had hosted it from my home server for a few years prior. My biggest tip would just be to start writing. You have to start somewhere, so just start. Either find a site you want to (and are allowed to) contribute to, or create a free site somewhere. Then as you get followers you can look at other options. Drop a line when you set something up, I’d love to take a look! Cheers!
Appreciate the advice. Allow me to give it a try.