this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2026
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Nextcloud/OneDrive Files-only Replacement (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 5 days ago by naate@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I currently have Nextcloud running, and it's stable, performant...no issues whatsoever. But it's also a LOT more than what I need, and stores files in an "unusable" state if I want to look at them outside of Nextcloud. The real kicker is that the linux client wants to download the entire cloud drive, which simply doesn't work for me.

For most cases, I think a samba share is all I need, but I do have times when I don't have internet access, so the ability to save specific files locally to sync back when I'm home would be great. Nextcloud and OneDrive have a "always keep on this device" option which has been perfect in the past.

I use Syncthing for some specific cases, but it adds extra steps I don't want to deal with all the time.

Specifically, I'm looking for something with these requirements:

  • provide a virtual drive for Linux and Windows
  • can keep specific files/folders from that drive offline
  • point the server to a folder (or folders), and that's what it shares

And "would be nice, but not required"

  • web interface to view/download files
  • user-level access
  • web and virtual drive can be accessed via reverse proxy

I've tried poking around, and can't find anything that seems to fit. I'm surprised there isn't a webdav client or samba config option that would do what I want, but I may also be in a mental rut and missing a key term.

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[–] stratself@lemdro.id 1 points 2 days ago

Why are files unusable outside of Nextcloud? Consider using the External Storage plugin.

Imo there are two types of file servers: smart clouds with offline and smart selective on-demand sync on brand-specific clients, groupware support, conflict resolution, and enterprisy plugins (Nextcloud, Opencloud, Seafile, etc); and dumb clouds with protocol-based file transfers and filesystem-tree/userperms instant compliance (copyparty, sftpgo, etc)

Of the first one, only Opencloud has a native-looking filesystem (PosixFS) and does it without dependency on a db. It supports smart sync for Windows (via the same API OneDrive uses). Linux smart sync is sadly nonexistent due to lack of protocols, and whatever other software do (e.g. using an .owncloud placeholder file) is highly experimental.

Of the second type, you'd get all the standardizations and speed but no bidirectional sync nor offlineness - again this is honestly an advanced undertaking requiring academic understanding of distributed systems and whatnot. On Linux you may try emulating some aspects of it via a half-smart client like rclone with VFS, but the UX to store files offline is still not there.

Knowing these constraints I'd tier my storage into 2 parts: the daily files like notes and recent photos stored in one of the smart sync solution, ready for download and later offline use; and anything unnecessary (Jellyfin media, archives, ) to be in a dumb SMB share/SFTP mount.