If you keep files on a VPS, NAS, or shared hosting, you’ve probably done this a hundred times:
- Open Cyberduck or Transmit
- Connect
- Download a file
- Edit it
- Upload it again
It works, but it’s clunky.
What most people actually want is simple:
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🧠 The idea
Instead of treating your server like a remote location, you can mount it as a local volume in macOS.
That means:
- Drag & drop files directly in Finder
- Open/edit files instantly
- No manual upload/download cycle
⚠️ Why the built-in macOS option isn’t enough
macOS has “Connect to Server”, but it has limitations:
- No proper FTPS support
- Disconnects can happen
- Not great with large files or frequent edits
So for many workflows, it’s unreliable.
⚙️ A better approach
The more robust setup is:
- Create a local mounted drive (appears under
/Volumes) - Keep files locally for fast access
- Sync changes to your server in the background
This gives you:
- Fast performance (local reads/writes)
- Offline access
- Automatic syncing
🔄 How syncing works (conceptually)
A good setup uses a 3-way sync model:
- Local files
- Remote server files
- Last synced state
This avoids overwriting changes and keeps everything consistent.
File changes are detected automatically (macOS file system events), so syncing happens within seconds.
🌐 Supported server types
Most setups like this work with:
- SFTP (SSH)
- FTPS (FTP over TLS)
- WebDAV (HTTP/HTTPS)
So you can use:
- Your VPS
- Your NAS
- Shared hosting
🧩 Tools that make this possible
There are different ways to achieve this:
- Network mounts (e.g. SMB/WebDAV) → simple but often slow
- SSHFS / rclone → powerful but can feel fragile
- Native macOS apps that mount + sync → more “Finder-like” experience
The last option tends to feel closest to a real external drive.
🔒 Privacy advantage
If you use your own server:
- No third-party cloud storage
- No accounts required
- Direct connection only
Your data stays under your control.
🧪 One example tool
One approach that follows this “local drive + background sync” model is myCloudDrive.
It’s a small macOS menu bar app that:
- Mounts a drive in Finder (via a disk image under
/Volumes) - Syncs with your server (SFTP, FTPS, WebDAV)
- Keeps files available locally for speed and offline use
It’s not the only way to do this, but it’s an example of how the “feels like a real drive” approach can be implemented.
✅ Bottom line
If you want a smoother workflow:
- Don’t treat your server like a download/upload target
- Treat it like a mounted drive with sync
Once you switch, it feels much closer to using a USB drive than a remote server.If you keep files on a VPS, NAS, or shared hosting, you’ve probably done this a hundred times:
- Open Cyberduck or Transmit
- Connect
- Download a file
- Edit it
- Upload it again
It works, but it’s clunky.
What most people actually want is simple:
Your server showing up in Finder like a normal drive.