Best method of transferring files over internet?

Question

I have a small server(running Ubuntu 9.10) at my (parent's) house and will be leaving it there once I go to college this fall. Currently I'm using samba to transfer files between computers, but I was wondering if once I am on my university's network, whether using FTP would be a better option versus samba over a VPN. The files will range from 100 MB to 17 GB, if that matters.

Would one be more efficient over the other? Did I forget any other options?

Solution 1

I'd choose rsync over ssh.

You get encryption that way and rsync is smart enough to resume partially downloaded files and to copy only different files to avoid excessive traffic usage.

Solution 2

The first thing that springs to mind to me is that I don't think that SMB will allow you to resume a download - which would be a real pain if you had a problem 16.5GB through a 17GB file...

So I would go for FTP, something like the pure-ftpd or vsftpd servers, both of which I would guess would be in the Ubuntu repositories if it isn't part of the standard install, and both of which should be relatively simple to set up securely; see here for an example setup for vsftpd.

Comments

[afrazier]

Don't underestimate the utility of a flash drive and a visit. Add in a hot meal and free laundry, the occasional visit home might be a worthwhile route for the largest files.

[0d0h0m0s]

Nothing I'd be transferring would be sensitive information and I don't really think the encryption would be necessary. Could, for example, the transfer rate between SFTP vs FTP be significantly different because of the encryption in SFTP?

[akira]

again: the limiting factor is the bandwith of your parents connection. if your home machine can encrypt your stuff with 20mb/s and your parents machine saturate the fiber at 1mb/s .. whats the point?

[0d0h0m0s]

I get your point, but that doesn't answer my question.

[akira]

it did. as long as the network bandwidth is the limiting factor, there is no point in thinking about if encryption have any effect on the transfer rate. obviously it has an effect, encryption is cpu-intense and thus it would decrease your theoretical bandwith. with a slower cpu the decrease will be higher.

[Dom]

grsync is a frontend for rsync on Ubuntu

[0d0h0m0s]

It's about 250 KB/s. I think it'd be enough.

[afrazier]

Assuming that 250 Kilobytes/sec is accurate, you're taking about 19 straight hours of transfer time.