So much conflicting info regarding attaching a digital picture frame, or even better, a tablet via the internet (off network).
I want to give my parents access to see all the photos residing on my EX2 (hundreds of thousands of photos) running OS5.
I use twonky on my home network and access it via a Roku media player.
Can someone suggest a setup that I can install at another home, outside my network, connect via their wifi/ internet, and access my home networks EX2? I think an off the shelf digital frame may add unnecessary complexity since they are made to be limiting (SD card, proprietary cloud, Google photo, etc) and so I’m leaning towards buying a cheap tablet and setting it up to only connect to my EX2 so my parents can just watch family photos on their “new” tablet.
I’m sure there are tons of people wanting/ doing this, and appreciate the community steering me/us into an elegant solution.
You have the limited options provided by WD for remote access. This includes the MyCloud.com web portal and WD OS5 mobile app for iOS or Android. You have options like the insecure FTP, or SFTP or similar options if the My Cloud Dashboard supports those access options.
Or one can bypass the WD methods of access and setup your own VPN Server on the local network and use VPN clients for remote access to the My Cloud. Properly setup VPN tunnels will allow computers to access the My Cloud as if it was on the same local network as the My Cloud (ie using Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder). There are various ways to setup a VPN server including some consumer routers that include VPN server options in their firmware. Note that one generally needs additional skill and knowledge to properly setup and configure a VPN Server and VPN Client. Plenty of online “how-to” guides for setting up VPN servers.
With respect to the “picture tablet” or digital picture frame. That would depend on what capabilities and features said device has or supports. If it only accepts pictures using a USB stick or SD card then one would have to download the pictures however one can connect to the My Cloud to the storage device and insert or connect that storage device in the “picture tablet”. If the picture tablet supports WiFi then it may open up additional options for ways to get pictures to the device but likely still limited to downloading the pictures ahead of time from the remote My Cloud.
Also - - -have you considered an online storage solution like OneDrive or DropBox? That provides better security and faster speeds than a “roll your own” solution will likely provide.
Make sure you have a robust means of testing whatever system you come up with. For testing, I generally wind up using a cell phone hotspot to test connectivity from outside my home network.
Full disclosure: I ultimately gave up on remote access to the NAS due to security concerns. I now have a 4TB drive I drag with me to places. (The NAS is used as a home media server; home backup solution)
