Free forever at home

A Raspberry Pi NAS and Media Server
that works out of the box

Every other Raspberry Pi NAS guide starts with a keyboard, a monitor and a list of commands to type. This one doesn't.

Four simple steps. About 30 minutes from start to finish, and most of that is just waiting for the download and SD card to write.

Download and flash the image, plug in your USB drive, switch on, then open myusb.local in any browser. That's the whole installation. No static IP, no port forwarding, no dynamic DNS, no Docker compose, no reverse proxy, no Samba config, and no separate media server to bolt on afterwards. Free forever at home.

Get started for free Why is it free?

Runs on a Pi 3, 4 or 5 with your own USB drive. Films, music and photos are built in, so the media server is not a second project.

myUSBdrive running on a Raspberry Pi in a living room

It's never been easier to build your own private cloud.
You're about half an hour away, and most of it is just waiting.

1

Download the image

One click on the download page. No email address, no account, and the checksum is published if you want to verify it.

2

Copy to your SD card

One click in Raspberry Pi Imager writes everything to your SD card.

3

Plug in

Connect your network cable and USB drive, and switch on.

4

Browse

Go to http://myusb.local and set your password. Done.

Watch the full setup walkthrough on YouTube See the full setup guide and what hardware you need

Everything built in. Nothing to configure.

Available from any device without installing any software. No app to download and no VPN to set up.

Enjoy your media

A streaming service for your own collection

Stream your music collection with album artwork and full playback controls. Browse your film library with poster artwork and plot summaries, and pick up where you left off. View and share your photos in a clean full-screen gallery.

Clean, fast interfaces designed for phones, tablets and computers. It works like a streaming service, except everything is yours.

Play your music through Bluetooth speakers, phones, tablets, and car audio systems including Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Film library TV series Photo gallery Music player
Access your files

Your drive, everywhere in the house

Your USB drive appears as a password-protected network folder on every computer in the house. Or open the web dashboard from any browser to browse, upload, and download.

Uploads and downloads are protected by two-factor authentication.

Laptop showing the network share and web file browser side by side
Keep everything protected

A drive can fail. Your memories won't.

Plug in a second USB drive and myUSBdrive mirrors your files automatically, at no extra cost. If one drive ever fails, your photos, music, and films are safe on the other.

Recover accidentally deleted files from the built-in Recycle Bin. Access is password protected from the start.

Two USB drives with automatic mirroring
With Remote Access

Take it with you

Your files are available wherever you are: at work, on holiday or even in the hills. Your myUSBdrive comes with its own personal web address (yourname.myusb.cloud), so everything on your drive is a browser tab away.

Nothing is exposed to the internet. Your Pi makes an outbound connection to Cloudflare, so there are no open ports or incoming connections to your home network.

Hiker in the mountains browsing myUSBdrive files on a phone

The hard part of remote access, already done.

  • No port forwarding, and no open ports on your router
  • No static IP address and no dynamic DNS service
  • No reverse proxy to set up or maintain
  • No certificates to install, and none to renew
  • No VPN client on every phone, tablet and laptop
  • No extra app: it is a web address in any browser

Downloads and uploads are protected by two-factor authentication, and the certificate for your address renews itself.

Diagram of a phone connecting through Cloudflare to a myUSBdrive at home

Why not just use iCloud or Google Drive?

Your memories belong to you, not to a subscription plan that gets more expensive as your collection grows.

What you agreed to →
Cloud storage
myUSBdrive
Your family photos live in someone else's data centre
Your family photos live in your own home
Run out of space? Pay more
Need more space? Plug in a bigger drive
The rules can change underneath you
Never scanned, sold, or used to train AI

Free at home. Affordable anywhere.

Free at home means free. No trial, no limits, and no account needed to download. You only create an account when you upgrade to remote access. Paid plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Cancel anytime.

Free
£0 forever

Everything you need at home. No account needed.

  • Stream music, films, and photos
  • Network drive and web file browser
  • Automatic drive mirroring to a second USB drive
  • Password protected access
  • Automatic updates
Download free
Most popular
Remote Access
£3.99 /month

Everything in Free, plus access from anywhere.

  • Everything in Free
  • Access from anywhere with your own myusb.cloud address
  • Cloudflare encryption and two-factor authentication
  • Remote mirror to a second myUSBdrive at another location
Get started
Coming soon
Household
£7.99 /month

Remote access for the whole family.

  • Everything in Remote Access
  • Up to 6 user accounts
  • Individual access controls per user

All plans include automatic updates. No-quibble 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. Cancel anytime.

No lock-in. Ever.

Your files stay on your USB drive. Unplug it and read it on any computer. Everything that is free at home runs entirely on your Raspberry Pi, with no account, no internet connection and no company needed. Even if myUSBdrive vanished tomorrow, your drive, your player and your memories would carry on working.

Worth knowing

Plain-English articles about who really controls your photos, and how to keep your memories safe at home.

A worried father at a laptop showing a red padlock

Google account locked: how one dad lost 10 years of photos

6 minute read
Family photos streaming from an album out to a garden shed

How to back up family photos: the 3-2-1 rule

6 minute read
Two large NAS towers beside a tiny single-board computer

myUSBdrive vs Synology vs UGreen: an honest comparison

7 minute read
Read all articles

Your memories are waiting. Bring them home.

Download myUSBdrive for free and be running today.

Get started for free See the setup guide

Built by a developer in the UK. Designed for people, not IT departments.