I am a beginner at this as I was recently running a simple home NAS using the built in functionality of my router. I decided to give Unraid a try so that I would have more customization and control over the server. One of the main features needed is FTP, therefore when I go to college I can continue to backup my files to the server. I have checked the FTP config menu and it shows enabled, but will not get a response when trying to access it outside my network. Is there a specific format that is used differently to access the files. The old one was just ftp://ipaddress. Also I would like to make this secure, but I didn't see an option for that in the config.

I am a beginner at this as I was recently running a simple home NAS using the built in functionality of my router. I decided to give Unraid a try so that I would have more customization and control over the server. One of the main features needed is FTP, therefore when I go to college I can continue to backup my files to the server. I have checked the FTP config menu and it shows enabled, but will not get a response when trying to access it outside my network. Is there a specific format that is used differently to access the files. The old one was just ftp://ipaddress. Also I would like to make this secure, but I didn't see an option for that in the config.

Rather than the basic FTP server included in unRaid, I would go with something like the ProFTPd plugin or GlFTP docker.  You can get either through the Community Applications plugin.

 

Using just the basic FTP server (and opening it up to the net) is going to do nothing but invite a ton of hack attempts.  With a real FTP server plugin, then at the very least you'd be able to have black lists / white lists.  But, your ideal way of gaining access to your server when you're away would be through a VPN

Another approach is to go cloud based. I use Tonido to have remote access to my content, a safer way than FTP.