Bring Your Own Cloud

File:OwnCloud2-Logo.svgIn the category “Sumble Upon”, I came across a nice piece of software which let you forget about Dropbox, SkyDrive, GDrive, etc. Because now you can build your storage-cloud on premises.

Nowadays there is a proliferation of providers, if you want some storage in the cloud to store your photos, videos, documents, etc. And as always every provider has its own advantages and limitations.

Now we could use a Synology NAS or a Pogoplug to create a storage-cloud on premises, but we want to be in control and we want to try, play and experience building our own storage-cloud. It’s just like version 2 of building our own NAS, not just buy a NAS but build one with OpenFiler or FreeNAS.

Now then, what did I came across? It’s called OwnCould and you can download it for free at http://owncloud.org/.

OwnCloud offers support for:

  • Data storage
  • Contacts
  • Calendar
  • Music streaming
  • Photo gallery
  • Online text editing
  • Versioning
  • PDF reader
  • Sharing
  • Integration of Dropbox/GDrive (experimental)

File:Screenshot of browser based file manager in ownCloud2.png

After you have built your own storage-cloud, it’s time to connect to that cloud and synchronize some folders from your PC. You’ll be happy to know that OwnCloud has clients for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android and iOS, so everyone can use it.