Big files no big deal
Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) allow you to send attachments of up to 5Mb per e-mail. Some ISPs have gone so far as 10Mb, even up to 20Mb. This is great for MP3 audio files and pictures, but terrible for everything else.
Let’s say you have an Adobe Photoshop graphic to send to your favorite printing company. Chances are it’s over 5Mb. You may be fortunate enough to have a graphics designer savvy enough to know how to split the file into sections. This is the way most designers send their art to the printers. Some use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers to upload their files. More on FTP later.
What do you do if you don’t have this magician of a graphic designer?
On top of that, most ISPs only allow a certain amount of storage space for your e-mails. Just one, single, large e-mail can bring you over your quota in no time. Worse yet – if you have a slower Internet connection, you will have to wait for the e-mail and its attachment to arrive at its destination. If your luck has really run out, an hour later, you’ll receive that dreaded delivery failure report – your e-mail didn’t make it through because you misspelled the address, or the e-mail address is no longer used.
E-mail systems were never designed for high-speed transfers and large attachments. The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) should be your tools of choice.
FTP programs require a special server and client software, as well as a specific username and password to allow people to upload their files. This means someone has to administer the FTP server. The senders will also have to know a little about FTP clients to be able to upload files to the server.
HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) or the web – as it is commonly called nowadays – is the best method. Of course, there is no easy way to send files from a web browser. This also requires some behind-the-scenes magic, and a host of applications and software to create a place where to put the uploaded files, a method to accept the uploaded files, and finally – someone to manage the server.
The good news is there is a solution. With the ever-evolving Internet, several companies have developed the means to allow us to send large files. It is not uncommon to be able to send an entire CD to another person.
There are a few methods available. One method requires the installation of proprietary software. It is often a free version, limited in some way to either control your upload and download speeds, file size maximums, or possibly riddled with advertisements. Pando is one example, although you may consider buying a subscription to avoid all the advertising. A newcomer to this area is Qnext.
You may also just visit a web site such as Dropsend and use the regular interface with no additional software installation or MediaFire. Of course, you can bet whatever you wish that there will be advertisements.
But wait: there is another option. This one lets users upload their files to an online sharing and storage web site, such as Box.net. Alas, these services usually limit the attachment file sizes. You may store several Gigabytes of data, but you’ll have to split them into parts using WinZip or WinRAR .
This then resembles web sites and web mail services such as Gmail, MSN, and Yahoo!. They, too, offer two Gigabytes of storage, but it’s got to be in 5-Mb or 10-Mb pieces.
The best option seems to be web-based uploading and sharing – even with the occasional advertisement.
Here is a list of some of the companies offering this type of service:
- dropfiles – lets users send files of up to 1 GB and store files online.
- File DEN allows their users to create direct links to their files. It also offers the opportunity to embed your files into your web pages, myspace or other social networking profiles.
- Quickeo – is an application for people who want to share their private digital photos, videos, music and other files with their friends, family and community – but not the whole world. It simplifies the transfer of private multi-media files for both the sender (no uploading to a server necessary) and the receiver (no downloading necessary).
- FileHo is an online one-click file-hosting service. It allows users to upload, host and share files for free. FileHo offers unlimited speeds, unlimited file-size, unlimited lifetime of files and unlimited disk space for any of your needs. Also, FileHo is an ad-free site! That’s why the downloading process has never been so easy and fast.
- Dliveo solves the problem of how to easily send and track large files over the Internet. It delivers your very large and important files to one or many people and you always know when they arrive.
- Zapr is an application that lets you create links to any files on your PC. You can then send these links to friends (via e-mail or IM) and they can get the files directly from your computer through their browser. It’s safe and secure.
- Omnidrive is what you expect hosted storage to be – easy to use, accessible from anywhere and unrestrictive. It lets you store, access and stream your files from almost any web-connected platform.
- MailBigFile is another free service letting users handle and send big files.
- Carbonite is a subsciption based online PC back-up solution with unlimited file storage capacity.
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