FTP vs SMB (Samba) : What are the Differences

When we launched this site, Android was at version 2 and Samsung launched their first S series smartphone. At that time, FTP was more important than SMB (Samba). So if you look at our old articles and guides, you’ll find that we have at least 30 articles on FTP, starting from articles like Differences between FTP and SSH and Access FTP server from a browser without using other software in Windows 7. Even we have a WordPress plugin related to FTP.

Up to an era, File Transfer Protocol or FTP was the most important protocol which enabled website owners and users to view, download, backup and edit files. In FTP, we can access as an anonymous user (if the settings allowed us to perform such) and authentication. It is an old protocol which is fast, and easy to use by webmasters and sysadmins, there are a lot of tools for Windows, Linux and Android.

After the year 2011, Android OS and smartphones continue to evolve faster and penetrate our day-to-day lives. From the hobbyist to a common user required to know another protocol which is like FTP but more advanced, that is SMB (Samba). SMB implements a filesystem, so it always going to have more overhead than just sending a bunch of bytes to the other side (when compared to FTP). Samba is an application for Linux and Windows. Originally it was for Microsoft Windows only. With Samba you can share a Linux or Mac directory and access it from a Windows machine. In the Samba server, we can also share a Printer. We always need a username and password in the authentication process.

SMB/Samba is newer than Samba but it is not too new, unlike the methods we use to access Amazon S3 or most of the cloud storage options.

Why We are Talking About SMB (Samba) in Cloud/Object Storage Era?

Because for file transfer, SMB/Samba has a resemblance with FTP but presently, Android and iOS do not natively support mounting of an FTP server like a native drive or directory. For all types of mobile device users and IoT users, we need to shift towards a modern protocol which will enable them to mount their server as a directory or drive on their tablets and smartphones.

Of course, almost everyone today knows that we can easily mount any cloud storage service like a native drive or directory on Android and iOS. However, Amazon S3, DropBox etc are completely proprietary and being API dependent, they are not super fast. Yes, cloud storages are more secure than running your own SMB/Samba server. Also, we can install Openstack Swift on a single server.

But, installation and management of OpenStack Swift are difficult. OpenStack offers three sub-projects related to storage, which are Cinder, Swift, and Manila. There are other open-source projects for object storage but none of them is super easy to use with limited resources.

Which is More Secure: SMB (Samba) or FTP?

FTP is more secure but it is not easy to filter FTP logins and watch what the user is doing. The security of SMB can be problematic as it is prone to cyber-attacks. That is why FTP is still a good option in many use cases. However, open source development around FTP is declining and as we have pointed out above, Android OS natively supports SMB/Samba.

Which is Better to Use?

SMB/Samba is a good solution for makers and home users. Object storage is superior for corporate usage and big data use cases. We will discuss open-source object storage solutions in a separate article.