{"id":1300,"date":"2013-06-12T22:42:34","date_gmt":"2013-06-12T22:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2018-09-06T22:50:48","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T22:50:48","slug":"ftp-droid-transfer-files-to-your-android-device-from-anywhere-android","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/?p=1300","title":{"rendered":"FTP Droid \u2013 Transfer Files To Your Android Device From Anywhere [Android]"},"content":{"rendered":"

When people started getting excited about \u201ccloud\u201d apps like DropBox or SkyDrive, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder how different it all really is from simply having an FTP server available. The only difference is that those services make it a point-and-click operation \u2013 simple enough for everyday computer users to make use of.\u00a0FTP usually requires that extra step of running some kind of client app, and remotely logging into the FTP server before you can start uploading or downloading files.<\/p>\n

In the early days of FTP, the FTP process was command-based, making it far more \u201cgeeky\u201d in nature. Today, if you\u2019re running a client like FileZilla, then FTP is about as simple as using Windows Explorer.<\/p>\n

\"ftp<\/p>\n

Use Your Droid As An FTP Server<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve said it many times, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll say it many more \u2013 smartphones are amazing little devices. Whether it\u2019s an Android, an iPhone or a Blackberry, they are portable computers that you can use to do just about anything you might imagine. One thing in particular that most users like to have is a direct link between a computer and their smartphone. Yes, you could just plug in your USB cable and transfer files via USB \u2013 but where\u2019s the fun in messing with wires?<\/p>\n

Instead, why not install FTP Droid and turn your Android phone into a virtual \u201ccloud\u201d drive no matter where you are?<\/p>\n

\"ftp<\/p>\n

When you install and launch FTP Droid on your Android phone, it immediately launches an FTP server using your phone\u2019s current IP address and port 21. The nice thing about this is that if you are on your cellular data plan rather than a Wi-Fi network, the software will simply use whatever current IP address your phone has been provided. You\u2019ll need to make sure that \u201cRequire a Wi-Fi Connection<\/em>\u201d isn\u2019t enabled in the settings.<\/p>\n

Once the software is running, you\u2019re almost done. You\u2019ll need to set up user accounts by clicking on Menu and tapping \u201cManage Users<\/em>\u201c.<\/p>\n

\"ftp<\/p>\n

Create the name and password for the account. If you want to use unique directories for each user, make sure to create the directory on your SD card, then tap \u201cShow advanced options<\/em>\u201d and type the directory path in the \u201cHome<\/em>\u201d field.<\/p>\n

\"ftp<\/p>\n

The Settings area reveals just how flexible this Android FTP server software is. You can launch it when your phone starts, require Wi-Fi, change the FTP port used, and configure anonymous settings.<\/p>\n

\"ftp<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what it looked like when connecting with FileZilla.<\/p>\n

\"android<\/p>\n

As you can see, it\u2019s as simple as using Windows Explorer. You can drill down into the directories of your SD card and do anything you want with the files. Obviously, opening up the entire SD card probably wasn\u2019t very smart. Ideally, you\u2019ll configure a subdirectory per user, and the FTP user will be limited to just that directory, not the entire SD card.<\/p>\n

If you want to transfer a whole bulk of files from your Android phone to your local PC, just highlight them all and click Download<\/em>. Keep in mind that you can do this from anywhere \u2013 a library computer, from work or at school \u2013 even if your phone is sitting at home on your night stand.<\/p>\n

\"android<\/p>\n

This setup lets you get files off your Android phone from anywhere, and of course, the flip side is you can also upload files from whatever computer you\u2019re on to your Android phone. With FileZilla, this is just a matter of right clicking the local file and clicking on \u201cUpload<\/em>\u201c. Instant transfer to your phone, and you\u2019re done. Essentially, you\u2019ve just turned your smartphone into a \u201ccloud\u201d drive that you can access from wherever you have access to a PC with an FTP client.<\/p>\n

\"android<\/p>\n

Back home on the Droid, the phone will keep a track of all FTP activity under the log. Just tap on \u201cLog<\/em>\u201d at the bottom of the main screen to see a list of all FTP events with an incoming IP address.<\/p>\n

\"ftp<\/p>\n

Transferring files to and from your phone from any computer is pretty cool, but once you have FTP Droid enabled on your phone, it opens up a whole other world of possibilities. Just search through MUO for cool things you can do once you have an FTP server set up like this, and you\u2019ll see that the sky is the limit.\u00a0Map your FTP drive (your phone) as a local drive using NetDrive, use Fling FTP to auto-backup data to your Android SD card, or how about setting up motion sensor webcams and having the captured images FTP\u2019d directly to your SD card? Running an FTP server on your Android phone can really give it new life and purpose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When people started getting excited about \u201ccloud\u201d apps like DropBox or SkyDrive, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder how different it all really is from simply having an FTP server available. The only difference is that those services make it a point-and-click operation \u2013 simple enough for everyday computer users to make use of.\u00a0FTP usually requires […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-tech-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2608,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/2608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsoftgeek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}