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I have hundreds of gigabytes of family photos on my hard disk at home.

What software will allow me to not only browse those online wherever I am, but most critically allow easy tagging via a web interface or app so that I can gradually organise the best of them as I view them, over the internet.

Update: Let's say I have a budget of GBP£300 for hardware/software, and I want the 400Gb of files kept on my home system so that I don't have to spend months uploading them. I tried that with flickr and it was quite time consuming.

Update: The Flickr interface fulfils all my criteria except the local storage part. I need image browsing software similar to flickr that I can run on my home computer and serve to the internet. With security.

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    \$\begingroup\$ @null The OP does not talk about online storage. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zenit
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 14:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ Look at NAS. Many of them allow to access data from internet. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zenit
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 14:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ @null I don't think so. I can browse through my files online, but the files are not online, they are under my desk. \$\endgroup\$
    – Zenit
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 14:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Alex.S it doesn't matter where the physical drives that store the files are located, you still access them online, so it's online storage. If you run the server yourself under your desk or if you use a service provider doing that for you, it's the same thing in the end: online accessible storage, or online storage for short. \$\endgroup\$
    – null
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 14:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ @null What I meant was that OP doesn not need to pay for hundreds of gigabytes of online storage (just one time for home server which is much cheaper on long and even short term distance). \$\endgroup\$
    – Zenit
    Commented Oct 5, 2016 at 14:31

2 Answers 2

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I was looking for something similar back in 2011-2012 (without the tagging capabilities) so this answer may not be the most up to date with today's new technologies.

WARNING:

The setup for this requires a lot of technical know-how and you will need to do your own research on what features of Amahi you want and don't want. This is not for someone who feels uncomfortable mucking around with computers.

Amahi works best (in my experience) when you let it be the DHCP server for your home network (or the network your machine is connected to).

What you will need:

  • A laptop/computer you don't use anymore (the main Hard drive will be formatted!) and that will run 24/7
  • Amahi server
  • Amahi app for iOS and Android for remote viewing of your data
  • A considerable amount of time to set things up right

Setup:

  • Follow the instructions on Amahi.org for the full setup.
  • Once the OS is installed and Amahi is up and running, you will be able to download the iOS/Android app that will let you remotely access your server files from anywhere. The app didn't have any tagging capabilities for pictures when I used it last (this may be a deal breaker for you).
  • From the Amahi server, you will then be able to select which folders you want to share to the app
  • Amahi website also has some services/apps that you can install. I don't remember which ones were needed for the web server. You will need to do the research yourself.

I did a bit more googling and QNAP seems like something more suitable to your needs. It requires no man hours and technical know-how. I couldn't find any pricing information though.

Good luck!

Feel free to comment here if you need more info. And let me know if you find a better solution because I am looking for one as well :).

P.S. I am just a happy Amahi customer and am not affiliated with them :D

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From what I understand by reading your question it seems the main problem you have is of retrospective organisation of existing content incrementally and long term management of new inflowing content as time progresses.

From the looks of it what you really need is a digital asset management software (DAM is what it is called, don't ask me why.. maybe a techie like me was in charge of naming)

Mostly meant for large organisations who want to keep track of digital assets (look at pricing on Google and you would be surprised).

Luckily there are some open source alternatives (and will require some tech knowhow and willingness to spend hours if not days waist deep in initial setup and reading manuals, if you don't want to pay). Google for 'digital asset management' and you will find something that suits you.

I think ResourceSpace would be suited for your needs, here is their knowledgebase article describing metadata field configuration (seems quite flexible):

http://www.resourcespace.com/knowledge-base/resourceadmin/configure-metadata-field

Btw there is a good list of digital asset management software here if you want to pursue this: http://alternativeto.net/tag/digital-asset-management/

Set this up behind a VPN on a local computer (or laptop... my 8yr old one is still chugging along fine with mostly utilised at 10% capacity or under) in your home network (that's a whole question for another space) and enjoy access from wherever.

Hope it helps.

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