Question about Base_Dir setting in Plesk

[clicky]

I am using a VPS with Plesk installed which seems to automatically set the 'BASE_DIR' to /var/www/vhosts/oursite.com/httpdocs/. For security reasons, I want to store the downloadable files outside of the publicly accessible directories, but the program will not then allow me to then access them using Smart File Download to do so. The program works fine using Smart File Download based on /var/www/vhosts/oursite.com/httpdocs/ and below. Any pointers on how I can change the Base_Dir so that I can store and access the files outisde of the publicly accessible areas ?

[zubrag]

have you tried to set absolute (from the root) path in smart file download?
like below, and place your downloadable files there
define('BASE_DIR', '/var/www/vhosts/oursite.com/');

[clicky]

Yes, I have tried moving the files up a directory and resetting the absolute path from root define('BASE_DIR', '/var/www/vhosts/*****.com/'); and changed relevant permissions but it still gives me a 404 file not found error even though the files are definately there.

I would be grateful for any other ideas as to how to achieve this - thanks

[zubrag]

Which url results in 404?