My Phone, The File Server

I'm cleaning out my room.

There's so much stuff that could make other people happier than it makes me. If anyone is interested in a variety of things, from fancy knapsacks to Tsum Tsums to dolls, let me know.

But that's not why we're here - We're here because I found my old Moto X phone. I'm not sure why I stopped using it, but I know I replaced it with the Galaxy S5 in 2014, and eventually my mother's hand-me-down LG Stylo until I dropped it and shattered the screen.

And receiving my own LG Stylo 2 this February. If I knew I still had my Moto, I wouldn't have paid money for an upgrade (Assuming it still works on T-Mobile's networks. It should).

So I found the article - What To Do With an Old Smartphone - And besides some usual suggestions - one stood out.

Make Your Phone into a File Server.

 I picked the app FTP Server - It opens the appropriate ports on the phone and grants file access. Of course, you could probably do it a different way without the help of a third party application.

And Lo and behold;

While the default port for FTP is 21, this one is using 2221. Why? I change it to 21 to see if it still works. It doesn't, so I turn it back.

Here are the settings on the application;

It seems that we can only pick one directory to work from at a time. I took a screenshot, placed it in the appropriate folder, and simply saved it from the "server"!

I can also enable a password and username to log in;

This is a private network, so no problems. But one could probably lure people to an open file server in a public place. How could I monitor hits? 

These are the interfaces the application can listen to. PAN and Wifi make sense, but how would outside connections come through on the Loopback? Does Mobile Data have a port to listen on?

Since the phone I'm using (The Stylo 1) Does not have access to the phone network, Mobile's a moot point anyway. I could install this on my active phone, but that doesn't seem smart. I don't do sensitive business on my phone to begin with, but why allow access?

So, why does this work? Because it's in a private network. It's using a private IP address, significant to our network only.

BUT....can I upload something to it from my Macbook?

I've never used the 'Go' option on my Macbook in the five years I've had it until today. 

I can connect to the server easily, using the IP address, port, and login creds.

So, I'll take this image;

And stick it somewhere on the server. Will it show up? 

There's not an upload option in the server settings, so no. But this was certainly a fun and informative thing to play with! 

I'll be sure to use this more in the future, if I can find an option with upload capabilities.