Written 24 Aug 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card. Buy links are not tagged yet.

A file share on the leftover box

A folder on the leftover box that the house can open from a laptop or a phone. You do not need a NAS for this.

A file share is a folder on the leftover box that phones and laptops can open like a USB drive on the network. Pi-hole can wait a week if you just put it on. This is the other small useful thing: a shared folder. Same leftover box. Same SSH from the couch.

What this is

A program called Samba. Free software that speaks the language Windows, Mac, and phones already use for shared folders. You do not buy a Synology for a folder of photos. The leftover box already has a disk.

This assumes Debian or Ubuntu Server, the OS from what OS to put on the leftover box, installed as in your first weekend. SSH in from the couch.

Make a folder

Pick one place. /srv/share is fine, or a folder in your home. Keep it simple. One share, named something obvious like photos or house.

sudo mkdir -p /srv/share

Install Samba

Samba is in the normal Debian and Ubuntu list. One command:

sudo apt install samba

Say yes. That is the whole install.

Tell Samba about the folder

The settings live in /etc/samba/smb.conf. Open that file and add a small block at the bottom. Swap youruser for the leftover-box login, and the path if you used a different folder.

[photos]

path = /srv/share

browsable = yes

read only = no

valid users = youruser

Then set a share password for that same leftover-box user:

sudo smbpasswd -a youruser

This password is for the share. It can match the Linux login, or it can be different. Samba keeps its own copy.

Restart it

Samba only reads the file when you restart it.

sudo systemctl restart smbd

Open it from a laptop or a phone

Use the leftover box address from the first weekend, the same number you SSH to.

On Windows, open File Explorer and type \\leftover-address\photos in the path bar.

On a Mac, Finder → Go → Connect to Server, then smb://leftover-address/photos.

On a phone, open the Files app, add an SMB server, same address. If it asks for a user, that is the leftover-box user, and the share password you just set.

If you cannot write

If you can see the folder but cannot drop a file in, the Linux folder owner is the usual culprit. Samba is using the leftover-box user, so that user has to own the folder. Run sudo chown youruser:youruser /srv/share and try again.

If the share is invisible

Ubuntu may have a firewall called ufw. If the share does not show up, check it with sudo ufw status. If ufw is on, allow Samba with sudo ufw allow Samba. Do not expose this to the internet. The share is for the house network only.

What next

Leave it. Use the folder for a while. When you want a second copy, that is a backup of the leftover-box folder. Not a NAS. Not RAID.

Skip

Skip buying a NAS for a first folder. The leftover disk is enough. Skip RAID. Skip merging this with Pi-hole into a “homelab stack” on day one. Skip exposing SMB to the internet. Skip Synology or UGREEN until the leftover disk is actually full. Waiting a week after Pi-hole is fine. You can write this share now, or later. Both are the next step.