I do not think ftp is the best way to do it.
1) First of all, it is for your own use. So you may have some sensitive data and you may want a better security. In this regard, ftp is not very secure.
2) If you do not require the remote access as seamless as your LAN access to your samba share, then you can consider scp (secure copy). It is part of the ssh suite. Scp is available in most linux distro and is available to download for WinXp ...
3) if you want a higher interactiveness than scp then you can consider webdav (
http://www.webdav.org/)