Questions about FTP/SCP/HTTP

Hello,

I've just hacked my Wester Digital 500 MB NAS. I installed lighttpd
(http webserver), vsftpd (ftp server). I want to access in r/w mode from
Linux, Windows and Windows Mobile machines. Should I use FTP or SCP?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of both ways?

Now other two questions. The first is about lighttpd: I want to avoid
the user can go up to the root folder. For example: the user enters in
the <ip>/PUBLIC folder and can click on "Parent Directory" which means
it can reach che configuration page of my NAS. I want to avoid this.

The second question is about vsftpd. I installed and configured, but
still I can't make a connection ("Unabled to make a connection" is the
error returned by my ftp client). I'm sure I opened the port on my
router. Anyway, I can't make a connection also from the LAN.

How to check the if ftp server is actually running on the NAS?

Thanks and sorry for my English!
Marco / iw2nzm