accessing an external directory

[pir8ped]

I have an app which creates lots of user-generated files - images, pdfs. These are expensive to build, and so I want to store them safely - where they will not be deleted if I reload or redeploy.

If I put them into a directory outside of the server (Tomcat), what is the best way to access them? I am thinking I need some kind of proxy which listens to all calls for images and pdfs...

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John

[pir8ped]

I should add that I would like to be able to access the image files as if they were on the server, with relative url's.