Alright, let’s talk about how I set up SFTP access on my old Western Digital MyBook World NAS drive from a Linux machine. This thing is ancient, but it still works, so why not, right?
Getting Started
First off, I dusted off the MyBook World drive and plugged it into my network. It’s got a gigabit Ethernet port, which is pretty decent for an old-timer. I wanted to be able to access this thing from my Linux box, and I figured SFTP would be the way to go.
Enabling SSH
The first hurdle was enabling SSH on the MyBook. Luckily, I found some old forum posts that mentioned how to do it. I had to do some digging, but basically, you need to tweak some config files on the device itself. Turns out, the MyBook is actually running a version of Linux under the hood.
- Finding the Config File: I used vi, which is already installed on the MyBook, to edit the /etc/ssh_config file. This file holds the settings for the SSH server.
- Enabling Passwordless Login: I wanted to make things easy, so I set up passwordless SSH access. This involved generating an SSH key on my Linux machine and then copying the public key to the MyBook’s authorized_keys file. I did this many years ago, so I don’t remember the detailed process of enabling passwordless login, but I am sure it is very easy to implement.
Setting up SFTP
Once SSH was up and running, setting up SFTP was a breeze. I already had an SSH service going, so I basically just had to use an SFTP client to connect.
- Using FileZilla: I fired up FileZilla on my Linux box and entered the internal IP address of the MyBook, along with my username and port number. Boom, I was in! I could see all my files and folders on the NAS.
- Configuring Port Forwarding: I also wanted to access the drive from outside my home network. To do that, I had to set up port forwarding on my router. I forwarded an external port to port 22 (the default SSH/SFTP port) on the MyBook’s IP address. This is kind of important, so don’t miss this step, remember it.
Accessing from Work
With port forwarding configured, I was able to connect to the MyBook from my work computer using the same SFTP client. I just used my public IP address instead of the internal one. It was pretty cool to be able to access my files from anywhere.
Other Protocols
I know there are other ways to access network drives, like AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) and Samba. But for me, SFTP seemed like the most straightforward option, especially since I was already dealing with SSH.
Conclusion
So, yeah, that’s how I got SFTP working on my old MyBook World drive. It took a bit of tinkering, but it wasn’t too bad. Now I can access my files from anywhere, which is pretty handy. If you’ve got one of these old NAS drives lying around, give it a shot! You might be surprised at how useful it can still be.
