Access data from anywhere: Fritzbox becomes your personal cloud

If you have a Fritzbox, you can turn it into a network storage that can be accessed securely over the Internet from anywhere, for example from your holiday destination. All you need is a USB drive and a few minutes of time.

Cloud services like Dropbox are a convenient way to back up photos, documents, and other files and access them from anywhere, at any time. But first, you're entrusting the data to a company whose servers are often not located in Europe, and second, you usually have to pay for enough storage space. But you can save money if you have a Fritzbox device at home, because it can be turned into a personal cloud in just a few steps.

Connect a USB storage device

First of all, you need to prepare or rather expand the router's network storage. Because the function is already available in existing Fritz boxes. You can find it by clicking on the top right of the user interface Fritz! people Clicks. NAS stands for Network Attached Storage, which in German means nothing more than network attached storage. If your Fritzbox is running an operating system older than FritzOS 7.5, you may still need to activate extended view, which you can do by tapping the three dots at the top right.

Fritz! people It actually shows memory, which is the internal memory of the Fritzbox. It is usually only a few gigabytes (GB) in size and is only partially suitable as a NAS. That's why you connect a USB drive to one of the USB inputs on the router. This can be a stick, an external SSD or a classic HDD. Common formats NTFS, exFAT, FAT/FAT32, or ext2/ext3/ext4 are accepted

Fritz! NAS is already here

If the memory is connected to the Fritzbox, click in the left menu Home network And then up USB/Storage. Attached storage must be located in Device overview To be clear. Then you select the tab Remote USB connection Out of place. There's a sign there Remote USB connection active Set it, remove it and click on the bottom right He takes over. If you connect a fast storage device, activate it under it USB settings In the corresponding communication Power modeSo that data can be transferred at USB 3.0 speeds.

Go for it now Fritz! peopleThere, you will find a folder named Attached Storage. You can now add files or set up new folders on the volume using the interface. The corresponding icons can be found at the top of the display. It is also possible via Select – selects Mark folders or files and then share them so others can access them from the Internet. A link is generated when you click on it launch Clicks.

Set up a MyFritz account!

In order to access Fritzbox from the Internet, you must be registered with MyFritz!Net. If not yet, you must first create a MyFritz account! To do this, click in the left menu Internet And then up My Fritz account!. There you enter your email address and click trackingYou will then receive a confirmation email at the address. I clicked on it Sign up Fritz! Your box And then up Set up a MyFritz account!. Then you enter the password, confirm it and connect To finish the process.

Now it still applies My Fritz account! Set up Internet access. To do this, click Set up MyFritz Internet access! And then up Set up Fritz!Box users. Everything is usually done by now, but you may still need to select or set up a user. Finally, press He takes over. If everything worked, a green dot will appear Your Fritz!Box is on MyFritz! registered.

Enable network drive and FTP access

To get to the end, return to the left menu of the Fritzbox user interface Home network on USB/Storage And moves down. There you first activate under Home network sharing the Access via network drive (SMB)which allows the Fritzbox NAS to be viewed in Explorer on Windows and in Finder on Mac.

To be able to access the network storage remotely over the Internet, check the box Access via FTP is active And clicks on He takes over. It is also noted here that a user with a license must be set up to access via a network drive or FTP.

Set up users for remote access

To do this, click on the link shown or go below System to Fritz!Box users. There you add a new user or click on the pencil icon of an existing user. After you set a name, email address, and password, activate the permissions below.

What's important is the check mark next to ZAccess from the Internet is allowed And of course when Access NAS content Add. There you can also specify whether the user has access only to certain directories and whether he can only read or write files, that is, change or add them. Then click again He takes over.

Access via Explorer or Finder

If you haven't already, give it to Fritzbox Home Network – Fritz! Fund name Individual name to make it easier to find. Among other things, this is called under Windows File explorer under network an offer. After clicking on it, enter your username and password and check the box Save login details. You can then access all previously shared folders via Windows Explorer.

Fritzbox can also be found on a Mac computer network. Click on them and enter Contact as… Enter your username and password and check the box Save the password in the keychain.

Remote access via browser or app

To access your Fritzbox cloud on the go, open your Internet browser and go to the MyFritz!Net page (myfritz.net). There you enter your MyFritz email address and associated password and log in. Then you see your Fritzbox and click on its name. Then you have to log in again, this time using your username and password. You can then access the NAS and other Fritzbox functions.

Alternatively, you can use the MyFritz app on your smartphone or tablet, which makes it especially easy. Because once you log into your home WiFi network, you won't have to do it again on mobile internet. What's still unfortunately missing is the ability to automatically upload smartphone photos, but the functionality may come with an upcoming update.