I’m trying to set up a system that works like this:
Local machines connected to my NAS should access files through SMB/NFS on the 10G network
Remote devices and mobile phones should access files through a web interface or mobile app over my 25G internet connection (though it’ll be capped at 10G due to LAN limitations)
Here’s what I’ve found so far:
TrueNAS works great for fast file sharing but doesn’t have remote access features
Solutions like Nextcloud and Seafile provide web access and mobile apps, but they use their own storage format instead of directly serving SMB shares. I’ve seen people try to sync between them, but that looks messy and files could get out of sync
For VPN options there’s Wireguard or Tailscale/Headscale. This works well for known devices, but I’m not sure how convenient it is to require VPN connection just to use the file sharing app
Had this exact issue last year. Ended up with a hybrid setup that works great. Keep TrueNAS for local SMB shares, but add a reverse proxy (Caddy or nginx) to expose specific directories via WebDAV. You get direct filesystem access without Nextcloud’s database overhead. Most mobile file managers support WebDAV natively, so no custom apps needed. Just make sure you’ve got proper auth and SSL certs - I use Let’s Encrypt with dynamic DNS. Performance is excellent since you’re basically serving files over HTTP, and no sync conflicts because everything hits the same storage. You’ll lose Nextcloud’s collaboration features, but for basic file access it’s rock solid.
check out owncloud infinite scale - it mounts external storage like smb shares directly without syncing. your truenas stays as the storage backend, but you get a web interface for remote access. i’ve been testing it and it works pretty well, though it’s got some rough edges since it’s relatively new.
Have you looked into TrueNAS SCALE? It’s got built-in kubernetes apps, so you can deploy FileBrowser right on the NAS. This gives you a web interface that serves files straight from your SMB shares - no syncing headaches. I switched to this after getting fed up with Nextcloud’s database storage mess. Performance is great since it’s just serving files directly from the filesystem, and you don’t have to deal with keeping multiple storage systems in sync. The web interfaces work pretty well on mobile too, though they’re not as slick as dedicated apps. And honestly, VPN isn’t as painful as it sounds - Tailscale makes it dead simple once you’ve got it set up.