How to use Nextcloud NAS Networking with an outdated phone

How to use Nextcloud NAS Networking with an outdated phone

Many individuals replace their phones every year or every two years. The idea is that you probably have an old phone laying around that you were not sure what to do with—though some individuals upgrade less frequently than that. Even though there are a ton of fantastic phone projects available, I was particularly interested in Nextcloud. An outdated phone can be effectively converted into a network attached storage (NAS), but it can be done more effectively than just allowing remote access and file transfers.

Your phone must be rooted in order to follow this method, but it is likely possible if you have an older phone. My OnePlus 11 is simple to unlock and root, but this should be the case for most cellphones as well. Additionally, you can use this instructions to launch a Pi-hole server on your phone.

How to use your old phone to set up Nextcloud

Pi deploy will be employed.

Pi-deploy is a derivative of Linux Deploy designed specifically for smartphone Raspbian instance deployment using Pi-hole. But the creator also included a script to install Nextcloud Pi in a later version. Similar to Nextcloud, Nextcloud Pi includes a management system for your Nextcloud instance together with a complete server instance. Although it frequently lags behind official Nextcloud builds in terms of updates, the average user probably will not find it too problematic.

Pi-deploy is available for download from GitHub, and it can download and start a virtualized Raspbian environment if you give it root access. You can then use SSH (via Termux, an SSH client, or from another device on the same network) and run pideploy-nextcloud-install to download and install Nextcloud once Raspbian has begun (it can take up to 15 minutes to deploy). During the Raspbian boot-up process, your SSH password will be displayed, so be careful to remove it. It appears just once.

Once installed, open the browser on your phone and navigate to nextcloudpi.local to access the Nextcloud settings page. After you save the login information it provides, use that information to connect into the admin account. After that, you can use the primary administrator account to create a new user on different devices, complete with a new username and password.

After everything is configured, you can use your smartphone to operate your new Nextcloud server and sync it with your laptop, PC, or phone. It will function exactly like a network attached storage device (NAS) would, allowing you to backup and transfer information throughout your network. Your phone's storage will be your only constraint, but that is usually the case with projects like these. It is fine for basic backups and a project that can help you learn more about Linux and networking. In addition, having a smartphone function as the main server for syncing around your house is very cool!

You can learn how to use an actual NAS by using the knowledge you gain from this. If you were to purchase or construct your own NAS, there are operating systems that are specifically designed for this kind of application. Although it is a fun project, you should never depend on it to be your only source of backups for your crucial files!

Get a NAS enclosure to increase the amount of storage on your PC.