How to connect an SFTP server or home NAS to file.rocks

Not every file lives in a cloud bucket. Plenty of them sit on a home NAS, or on a server you already pay for.

file.rocks can connect to that server over SFTP, so its files show up next to your other buckets. You fill in one form, and file.rocks tests the connection before it saves anything.

1. Before you start

The connection runs from file.rocks servers, so a home NAS has to be reachable from the internet over SFTP.

Have these ready before you open the form:

• Your server's address
• The port your SFTP server listens on
• A username
• That user's password, or a private key

2. Open the bucket form

Go to Settings, then Buckets, and click Add Bucket. If you don't have any buckets yet, the button reads Create your first bucket.

The Create Bucket window opens. Under Storage Type, pick Bring Your Own.

Open Provider and choose SFTP. The form switches to fields for your server. The same list also has FTP / FTPS and WebDAV, but this guide sticks to SFTP.

3. Fill in the connection details

Host and Port

Host is your server's address, like sftp.example.com.

Port shows 22 as a hint, but the box itself is empty. If you leave it blank, file.rocks uses port 22. Only type a number if your server listens on a different port.

Username, Password and Private key

Username is the account file.rocks signs in as.

The form always shows both Password and Private key (optional). There's no switch between them. Fill in the one your server uses.

To use a key, paste the whole private key into Private key (optional), including the BEGIN and END lines. You can leave Password blank. There's no field for a key passphrase, so use a key that doesn't have one.

file.rocks encrypts the password and private key before it stores them.

Root path

Root path is the folder on your server that becomes the top of the bucket in file.rocks. It starts as /.

Point it at the share or folder you actually want in file.rocks. The account you entered has to be able to open that folder, because the connection test lists it.

Nickname and Internal name

Nickname is the name you'll see in file.rocks, like "Home NAS". Internal name is a short ID for the bucket, like nas-home.

If you leave either one blank, file.rocks uses the host instead.

4. Save and test the connection

Click Save Bucket. Before it saves anything, file.rocks connects to your server and lists the Root path.

If that works, the window closes and the new bucket shows up in your Buckets list. It also becomes the bucket you have open.

If it doesn't work, nothing is saved, but you won't see an error message, and Save Bucket keeps loading. Reload the page, check these, then add the bucket again:

• The Host is reachable from the internet, not just from inside your home network.
• The Port matches the port your SFTP server listens on.
• The Username and Password, or the Private key (optional), are right for that server.
• The Root path exists, and that user can open it.

file.rocks waits up to 20 seconds for your server to answer before it gives up.

5. What's different from an S3 bucket

With an S3 bucket, your browser uploads files straight to storage. With SFTP, uploads go through file.rocks servers, and each file can be 32 MB at most. A bigger file gets turned away.

Downloads and previews come through file.rocks servers too.

If you have big files or plan to sync a lot, S3-compatible storage is a better home for them. Cheapest cloud object storage compares the options. The guides for Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2 and Wasabi walk through connecting each one.

Sync still works. An SFTP bucket shows up in sync like any other bucket, and how to sync files between your own buckets covers the setup.

Importing a file from a link or torrent needs an S3-compatible bucket, so it won't work on an SFTP bucket.

On the Usage page, Est. storage / mo shows a dash for an SFTP bucket. file.rocks has no price list for your own server.

6. Upload a file

Open Files and drop something in. If it shows up, you're connected. Keep the 32 MB limit in mind while you test.

For more on uploading, see how to upload files to your own bucket.

Your files stay in the bucket you connected, and file.rocks is how you manage them.