Seagate abandon remote access to their 'Central' NAS

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 5/6/2018 11:14 AM, Roger Mills wrote:
I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGsÂ* must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the filesÂ* stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Check to see if your router supports VPN (Virtual Private Network) as a
feature. It needs to have the Server version of the VPN, be it OpenVPN
Server or PPTP Server.

In my case I have a Asus RT-AC68P/U router attached to my Cable modem.
For various reasons I have loaded version 140 of the Tomato firmware
into my router. This allows me to activate either OpenVPN or PPTP
versions of VPN. I personally choose the OpenVPN method as I already
was using the OpenVPN on my PC's to remotely connect to a couple of
charities that I help keep operating. OpenVPN does have a little harder
learning curve than PPTP but for the home user either will work.

With the VPN connection I can remotely connect to any device normally
accessible on my LAN, be it a PC, NAS, or even security cameras. So in
your case all you would have to leave on is the router, NAS, possibly a
Ethernet bridge, and what ever modem you use to connect to the internet.
Should you want to access your PC's than too could be arrange.

For many routers on the market you don't need to change the firmware to
Tomato or DD-WRT as they come with some version of VPN software built
into them. For other models if you are lucky you can upgrade the
firmware to DD-WRT, Tomato, or one of the other alternate firmware that
are out there.

On 06/05/18 17:14, Roger Mills wrote:
I simply want to be able to access the filesÂ* stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Well you need to leave the NAS running.

Id be tempted to rip its disk out and fit to a Pi or equivalent, then
set up ssh access and dynamic DNS and remote passthru on yer router


--
New Socialism consists essentially in being seen to have your heart in
the right place whilst your head is in the clouds and your hand is in
someone else's pocket.

Roger Mills wrote:
I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Well you could have something like a Raspberry PI left on permanently
to give you access, very little power, no fan or anything.

I'm not sure what OS a 'Seagate Central NAS' runs but if it's Linux
(almost certainly) then you can probably get at it via that somehow.

--
Chris Green
·

Original newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,uk.d-i-y
Newsgroups in reply: alt.windows7.general

Reason: I do not visit the DIY newsgroup to know it qualifies as a
computing newsgroup. Probably on-topic to the Win7 newsgroup.


Roger Mills wrote:

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Okay, you stumped me. How can files on a computer's drives be accessed
when that computer is unpowered?

On 5/6/2018 4:31 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
Original newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,uk.d-i-y
Newsgroups in reply: alt.windows7.general

Reason: I do not visit the DIY newsgroup to know it qualifies as a
computing newsgroup. Probably on-topic to the Win7 newsgroup.


Roger Mills wrote:

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Okay, you stumped me. How can files on a computer's drives be accessed
when that computer is unpowered?

The user did not want to access the computer's hard drives.

The NAS (Network Access Storage) they want to access is basically a box
holding hard drive(s) that are connected to the local network. This box
is normally separate from the PC and has it's own power supply. This is
something they can already access from PC's on the same internal LAN.
They were looking for a way to access the NAS box from locations outside
their home LAN.

Then again possibly you were attempting to be humorous...

GlowingBlueMist wrote:

On 5/6/2018 4:31 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
Original newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,uk.d-i-y
Newsgroups in reply: alt.windows7.general

Reason: I do not visit the DIY newsgroup to know it qualifies as a
computing newsgroup. Probably on-topic to the Win7 newsgroup.

Roger Mills wrote:

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Okay, you stumped me. How can files on a computer's drives be accessed
when that computer is unpowered?

The user did not want to access the computer's hard drives.

The NAS (Network Access Storage) they want to access is basically a box
holding hard drive(s) that are connected to the local network.

The NAS box is also a computer. I did not say the OP's desktop or his
workstation or his PC. The OP said "without needing to leave ANY
computers running".

On 07/05/2018 08:17, VanguardLH wrote:
GlowingBlueMist wrote:

On 5/6/2018 4:31 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
Original newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,uk.d-i-y
Newsgroups in reply: alt.windows7.general

Reason: I do not visit the DIY newsgroup to know it qualifies as a
computing newsgroup. Probably on-topic to the Win7 newsgroup.

Roger Mills wrote:

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Okay, you stumped me. How can files on a computer's drives be accessed
when that computer is unpowered?

The user did not want to access the computer's hard drives.

The NAS (Network Access Storage) they want to access is basically a box
holding hard drive(s) that are connected to the local network.

The NAS box is also a computer. I did not say the OP's desktop or his
workstation or his PC. The OP said "without needing to leave ANY
computers running".

OK - you're splitting hairs. I think most people will realise that I was
talking about laptop and desktop computers - obviously *not* any
computing device inside the NAS itself.

More to the point, have you got any useful suggestions?
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

Roger Mills wrote:
On 07/05/2018 08:17, VanguardLH wrote:
GlowingBlueMist wrote:

On 5/6/2018 4:31 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
Original newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,uk.d-i-y
Newsgroups in reply: alt.windows7.general

Reason: I do not visit the DIY newsgroup to know it qualifies as a
computing newsgroup. Probably on-topic to the Win7 newsgroup.

Roger Mills wrote:

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by
this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when
I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Okay, you stumped me. How can files on a computer's drives be accessed
when that computer is unpowered?

The user did not want to access the computer's hard drives.

The NAS (Network Access Storage) they want to access is basically a box
holding hard drive(s) that are connected to the local network.

The NAS box is also a computer. I did not say the OP's desktop or his
workstation or his PC. The OP said "without needing to leave ANY
computers running".

OK - you're splitting hairs. I think most people will realise that I was
talking about laptop and desktop computers - obviously *not* any
computing device inside the NAS itself.

More to the point, have you got any useful suggestions?

Doesn't your NAS offer FTP and SFTP ?

If so, use the latter.

What some "Apps" add to projects like this, is the hardware
manufacturer maintains a "connection server", which is in a
sense a form of "dynamic DNS". Your home setup may receive
a different DHCP address every time you connect to your
ISP. The "App" world provides a means for you to "log in"
to Seagate, and Seagate has a record of the NAS registering
with it, so Seagate knows the address. The data itself
doesn't travel through the Seagate server, but Seagate
may maintain an address map of where each NAS is located
on the Internet. That's the main value.

If you want to manage connections to the box yourself,
you might need port forwarding on the router, DynDNS on the router to
register the symbolic address for usage while away from home,
and select a protocol which is secure for usage over the Internet
(at least SFTP - don't leave FTP running on the Internet side
where it can be seen and poked via automated kiddie scripts).

Setting up a "Personal Cloud" is possible, using existing tools.

Or you could try Googling on "personal cloud" and see if any
third party software solves the DynDNS problem for you.
(DynDNS was free at one time, but might not be free
any more.) For example, I think you can transfer files
over TeamViewer.

I've never set up such services over the Internet here,
because it's just too much of a risk. I wouldn't even
think of doing this. If I had to do it, I'd use Dropbox
instead, as they can spend their waking hours keeping
it secure. Whereas I don't want to.

Paul

On Mon, 07 May 2018 14:18:42 +0100, Roger Mills
wrote:

OK - you're splitting hairs. I think most people will realise that I was
talking about laptop and desktop computers - obviously *not* any
computing device inside the NAS itself.

Agreed, most people will have arrived at that conclusion.

More to the point, have you got any useful suggestions?

From your local network, can you use FTP or SSH to access the NAS? If
so, it should be pretty straightforward to extend that access to remote
locations via port forwarding in your NAT router.

--

Char Jackson

Paul wrote:

Roger Mills wrote:
On 07/05/2018 08:17, VanguardLH wrote:
GlowingBlueMist wrote:

On 5/6/2018 4:31 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
Original newsgroups: alt.windows7.general,uk.d-i-y
Newsgroups in reply: alt.windows7.general

Reason: I do not visit the DIY newsgroup to know it qualifies as a
computing newsgroup. Probably on-topic to the Win7 newsgroup.

Roger Mills wrote:

I have had a Seagate Central NAS system for several years - and use it
for backing up some of the PCs on my network and also for occasional
remote access to my media files when away from home - mainly using the
Tappin app on mobile devices.

I have recently discovered that Seagate stopped supporting remote
access, and turned off the Tappin app in early April.

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by
this,
and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than using
cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files stored on
my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers running when
I'm
away from home. Any suggestions?

Okay, you stumped me. How can files on a computer's drives be accessed
when that computer is unpowered?

The user did not want to access the computer's hard drives.

The NAS (Network Access Storage) they want to access is basically a box
holding hard drive(s) that are connected to the local network.

The NAS box is also a computer. I did not say the OP's desktop or his
workstation or his PC. The OP said "without needing to leave ANY
computers running".

OK - you're splitting hairs. I think most people will realise that I was
talking about laptop and desktop computers - obviously *not* any
computing device inside the NAS itself.

More to the point, have you got any useful suggestions?

Doesn't your NAS offer FTP and SFTP ?

I had thought of that, too, along with VNC (UltraVNC, RealVNC, TightVNC)
and Windows RDP except those require punching holes in the router to
allow external access. The router would need to be configured for port
forwarding to the NAS host. I doubt the OP wants to remember the
current WAN-side address of his router/modem and it could be dynamic
instead of static, so adding DDNS (e.g., OpenDNS, NoIP) would let him
access his router via host and domain name. Although some routers
support DDNS, most don't or don't support the same DDNS provider as the
user wants to use, so a local DNS updater client is needed that connects
to the DDNS account to update the IP address there. That lets the
account know to where it connects when an inbound request comes in. Its
a lot of work.

I'm wondering if Tappin worked similar to TeamViewer, LogMeIn, Mikigo,
or other similar remoting services. Typically a firewall will not block
outbound HTTP connections, so a TeamViewer server running on a host
would make outbound connects to the TeamViewer service to see if there
were any pending inbound connections from external sources (i.e., you
ask the TeamView service to connect to your remote host). TeamViewer
service acts as an arbitrator connecting the inbound request to the
remote host and then gets out of the way. It's there for the initial
handshaking but passes the inbound connection to the remote host (so the
service doesn't have to expend bandwidth on that connection).

I don't know if the NAS box has an open or general-purpose OS that lets
you install software. Unless we dig into the unidentified Seagate NAS
model, we don't know what OS it uses. There are lots of choices
mentioned at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...sktop_software

but which you choose depends on what mode of communication you want and
what you're willing to go through to set it up. From what I found about
Tappin, it seems similar to TeamViewer and those remoting programs: run
a client on the remote host that keeps an online account up to date and
the service arbitrates inbound connection requests to access.seagate.com
to the remote host.

Before much time is spent in figuring out a multitude of candidate
solutions, the OP needs to know what there is to work with (OS on the
NAS box, can it be connected to on the intranet to access its OS and
allow installation of software, router's features, like port forwarding,
if using an arbitration service, as the OP was, is still okay or if
direct connects are wanted, as with VNC, RDP, FTP). The OS in the NAS
box could be some proprietary or highly customized OS that software
installation is not a choice.

Seagate NAS OS 4
https://www.seagate.com/support/software/apps/nas-os/
https://www.seagate.com/manuals/netw.../nas-os-setup/

I didn't feel inclined to learn another OS or a variant. It appears to
be a Linux variant according to:

https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...erating-system

However, that doesn't mean remoting software that installs on Linux will
install on this variant, plus it could be a very locked-down Linux
variant.

On 07/05/2018 17:48, Good Guy wrote:
On 06/05/2018 17:14, Roger Mills wrote:

I guess that a number of readers of these NGs must be affected by
this, and wondered whether anyone has found a solution - other than
using cloud storage. I simply want to be able to access the files
stored on my NAS remotely without needing to leave any computers
running when I'm away from home. Any suggestions?

There are many solutions:

https://www.noip.com/
https://dyn.com/dns/
https://duckdns.org/
http://freedns.afraid.org/
https://www.dynu.com/
http://www.dnsdynamic.org/


Thanks. but these are solutions to a problem which I don't have! I've
got a static WAN IP address - so I don't need any sort of dynamic DNS in
order to address it.


Just because one company stops something it doesn't mean that life must
come to an end. Find different ways of doing things. That's how human
beings have evolved.


Seagate provided a facility whereby you could log on at
access.seagate.com and access the files on your NAS. That may well have
employed some sort of dynamic DNS for those needing it - but that isn't
the issue. They have taken down their server, and withdrawn support for
the Tappin app on portable devices. They apologise for any inconvenience
caused(!) and assure me that my data is quite safe - but can only be
accessed from within my own network.

My router supports Game and Application Sharing - which permits me (for
example) to associate a PPTP server with my Seagate NAS so that - in
theory - anything coming in on port 1723 goes to the NAS. Problem is
that all such connects are refused!

If I log on to the NAS's web interface, it offers me 'Services' of
"Remote Access", "Seagate Media", "DLNA" and "iTunes". The first two of
these are no longer supported and the last two only work on the same LAN
as the NAS.

I've no idea what OS the NAS uses - probably some flavour of Unix/Linux
- but it's pretty thoroughly locked down with no ready access to it. I
*can* FTP to the NAS but that doesn't seem to allow me to do much.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 07/05/18 23:12, Roger Mills wrote:
Seagate provided a facility whereby you could log on at
access.seagate.com and access the files on your NAS. That may well have
employed some sort of dynamic DNS for those needing it - but that isn't
the issue. They have taken down their server, and withdrawn support for
the Tappin app on portable devices. They apologise for any inconvenience
caused(!) and assure me that my data is quite safe - but can only be
accessed from within my own network.

My router supports Game and Application Sharing - which permits me (for
example) to associate a PPTP server with my Seagate NAS so that - in
theory - anything coming in on port 1723 goes to the NAS. Problem is
that all such connects are refused!

If I log on to the NAS's web interface, it offers me 'Services' of
"Remote Access", "Seagate Media", "DLNA" and "iTunes". The first two of
these are no longer supported and the last two only work on the same LAN
as the NAS.

I've no idea what OS the NAS uses - probably some flavour of Unix/Linux
- but it's pretty thoroughly locked down with no ready access to it. I
*can* FTP to the NAS but that doesn't seem to allow me to do much.

Hmm. A pretty problem.

Obviously there is a way in, but its not well advertised.
It the tappin crap was supposed to work behind a firewall with no
especial configuration, that strongly implies that the NAS istself sets
up and maintains a permanent connection to some seagate cloud.

Bit like skype does


Now if that is the case you wont be able to use that partucular backdoor.


I would try scanning the NAS ports to see which are active.

My guess is that ssh might be open. If its bog standard linux on the
NAS. Try using PUTTY to connect to it. If that works you can use sftp
and its chums if you redirect port 22 to the NAS.


It is not beyond the bounds of reason either to set up port redirection
for SMB services on the router so you can actually mount the NAS across
the internet. TCP ports 139 and 445 and UDP ports 137 and 138 should be
redirected to the NAS box.

Obviously you wont be able to 'scan' for the NAS across the internet, so
you will have to know ip address and tell whatever ****e MS uses to
display shares *for that server*. Or better still use NET USE to mount
the device as a drive etc


It's not very secure though, but I myself have done this years ago as
proof of concept.




--
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will
eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such
time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic
and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally
important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for
the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the
truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

Joseph Goebbels

Roger Mills wrote:
If I log on to the NAS's web interface, it offers me 'Services' of
"Remote Access", "Seagate Media", "DLNA" and "iTunes". The first two of
these are no longer supported and the last two only work on the same LAN
as the NAS.

They "only work on the same LAN as the NAS." because your router
doesn't allow the ports used by them to/from the outside. So you
could open up those ports on the router and get remote access, however
that does have security implications.


I've no idea what OS the NAS uses - probably some flavour of Unix/Linux
- but it's pretty thoroughly locked down with no ready access to it. I
*can* FTP to the NAS but that doesn't seem to allow me to do much.

What doesn't FTP allow you to do that you want to do? You can get
'file explorer' like GUIs that use FTP.

--
Chris Green
·

On 08/05/2018 14:03, Chris Green wrote:


What doesn't FTP allow you to do that you want to do? You can get
'file explorer' like GUIs that use FTP.


The op doesn't actually say what NAS he has but..

https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDe.../PersonalCloud

gives instructions for putting linux on some Seagate NAS boxes.

Then he has multiple options if it works or buying a synolgy NAS if it
doesn't.