Question

I have a site that people upload large (2mb-3mb) files to, In large quantities. So I need to store them on an external drive (my drobo). How can I upload files to a folder on the server and then how can I write a php script that retrieves them and lets users download them.

Thanks,
Joey Sacchini

Answer 1

To do this, simply move your files into an accessible space.

http://php.net/manual/en/function.move-uploaded-file.php

Be sure to consider the implications of this though. Once you move an uploaded file to an open directory, anyone can access it. This is very dangerous. Imagine someone uploading a PHP script.

It is best to create a script that fetches files from a location not in the web root. At a basic level, you can store the file’s properties, such as original name (you should rename them to something random on disk) and mimetype, to database. Then send the file to the client with readfile().

For downloading backups to your own personal hard drive, just use SFTP.