Back in the old days when I was in college which was before cloud storage was mainstream I ran an FTP server so that I could access all of my stuff where ever I needed it. I still find that I prefer to use a vpn client to access data that I store on my own servers instead of relying heavily on cloud storage. I guess with all of the legal what not floating around about what the government can and can't force out of tech companies I'm a little paranoid. Not that I'm doing anything illicit, I'm just distrustful.
I think one of the problems is when you use your home server, especially if you use FTP, it's very insecure unless you have a solid understanding of network security, firewalls, etc. (and even then, FTP is one of the least secure methods of file transfer). On my Synology NAS I had certain ports open to the outside so I can access my data via SFTP, CIFS, or AFP/SMP when local. I also had reporting available that would send me an email and block IPs if 5 attempts were made and failed to gain access to my system. Since I never advertised my IP and only recently got it setup, I was getting hundreds of attacks per week trying to gain access to my data. I'd trust companies such as Dropbox to securely hold my data and have a team dedicated to monitoring and preventing breaches over a home-brewed NAS solution available to the outside. Of course you do have the potential for government and subpoena Dropbox for your info.
Cloud storage is pretty cheap these days, you can get 1TB of data per month for anywhere from $5+ per month, which is a lot cheaper than paying the electric bill on a home server.
