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robmac

Well-known member
This seemed like the most suitable place to post this question, so:

I have someone wanting to send me/allow me access to a 1DS2 raw file (18MB). Email is a no go. We tried 'You Send It" and it just hung. Mailing a CD in this day and age seem a little medieval.

Anyone have any other large file transfer services, etc they recommend?

Thanks

Rob
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
Off the top of my head I can think of a few. My clients seem fond of a transfer service called "FilesAnywhere" but I don't know the fees/cost involved. I use something called "Whalemail" and have for at least five years. I upload the file, enter the recipient's email, and they are sent a link that allows them to download the file via FTP. Easy. Also, if you or your sender has a .MAC account, there's a built-in file storage/transfer service that uses the public folder.

Best,
Tim
 

Terry

New member
Two mac based solutions. .mac which is now mobileme allows for 20mb files but you would both need to be able to get big files. It also allows you to share files you put in a public folder through iDisk. There will also be a new method for sending large files but it hasn't been fully implimented in the new mobile me (zips the file and sends through regular email. If you haven't found a solution, when I get home this evening I can give you directions of how to put it on my public folder and then it could be downloaded from there.
 

Lars

Active member
I was going to say that dropload.com is similar to yousendit.com, but the site is down.
 

LJL

New member
Rob,
If the person with the file has their own Web site, they should be able to upload the file to their site in the FTP section and then you would just link to it to download. I do this on my site with clients all the time. I create a folder for them to link to directly, and they are able to pull files down when they are ready. I just send them an email with the link and they go grab the files, regardless of size. I have placed folders out there with multiple 20MB files and clients have never had an issue pulling them down.

If you friend does not have a Web site, or does not have FTP access on it, then some of the other solutions mentioned would be the way to go.

LJ
 

robmac

Well-known member
Excellent folks, thanks.
Terry - thanks for the offer, but I need to find an ongoing solution. Appreciate it.
Since he didn't mention FTP access via website, i suspect he doesn't have it, but will suggest it.

Gracias
 
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woodyspedden

New member
Just a bit of my own experience. I tried to send a rather large Hassy 39Mpx file to etrigan in Florida using YouSendIt. It cost me $8.99 and the file never did go through. You get charged first and then, if lucky, get the service you paid for. I have no idea how to go about either getting reimbursed for the failure or how to be given another try to get the file through. All I can say is, that at $8.99 per try I won't be using YouSendIt any time soon until they get their act together.

We need a quality service who can get this done. Any of you developers out there could stand to make some substantial coin if you can do it right

Woody
 

Terry

New member
Woody,

You can buy a subcription to MobileMe when it is complete. You get 20gb of storage and a decent amount of bandwidth per month. In addition there is a specific large file transfer capabilitity. $99/year. go to MobileMe.com for more details.
 

sizifo

New member
If you are on a mac you can very easily set up your very own ftp server via system preferences/sharing - in about 3 clicks. Once you turn the server on, the address under which the shared files can be found will be written on the window, i.e. something like ftp://your.ip.address/ and the folder where the shared files must be placed will also be clearly shown.

To access the files you need the password of the account holder. But you can always create a user just for this.

Of course, if you're not on a permanent connection, the address will change every time you reconnect, so you need to be in contact with the person downloading.

I've done this a few times, and it's dead easy. No need to pay 8.99 these days.

Although, I'm not sure if firewalls can cause problems, but in my experience they haven't.
 

Lars

Active member
I think Woody has an excellent point here - it shouldn't be that hard to send a file from A to B, regardless if you are behind a bunch of firewalls.

Obviously, none of the commercial file sharing sites has a stellar reputation. Dropload went out of business, others have problems. A peer-to-peer solution based on something like the torrent protocol is what is needed.
 

sizifo

New member
I think Woody has an excellent point here - it shouldn't be that hard to send a file from A to B, regardless if you are behind a bunch of firewalls.
I was just saying that the mac makes it very easy to set up a your own ftp server, as a tip. But by any means it's not the best solution.

Of course, most of the traffic on the internet consists of people "sharing" files. So it's not some obscure thing that nobody has thought of.

And in this sense there are many solutions that are reliable. E.g. It's very easy to make your own torrent, and not that hard to find a free tracker online. But of course 99% of these trackers are used for illegal stuff.

So I guess the problem is not so much to make a service that works, there are many that do. The difficult part is to make sure that what gets transferred is legit.

But certainly, a company that charges 8.99 for 30 megs just has to be crooked.
 

Terry

New member
Well at the risk of being a broken record....

From the website
Make it public.
iDisk includes a Public folder that makes sharing files a snap. Just add the files you want to share and your friends and coworkers can access them using any web browser. They can post their own files, too.

Coming soon: Email large files.
Soon a new feature in iDisk will make it simple to share files too big for email. iDisk will automatically send a message with a simple link. The recipient will just click the link to download the file.

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/idisk.html

For non mac users:
iDisk on your Windows desktop.
Sometimes managing files and folders is easier to do on your desktop. MobileMe lets you map your iDisk to your Windows XP or Vista desktop so you can drag, drop, and upload files without using a browser. When you’re away from your computer, all your uploaded files will be waiting for you at me.com.

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/pc.html
 

sizifo

New member
Well at the risk of being a broken record....
Do you happen to work for Apple by any chance? :)

Seriously, though. I also pay for .mac. And while I don't feel it's great value for money, for somebody who wants to do these simple things without any hassle, it's $99 well spent.

I also haven't checked the new mobileme features, but it does look like it's better value than what it used to be.
 

woodyspedden

New member
Woody,

You can buy a subcription to MobileMe when it is complete. You get 20gb of storage and a decent amount of bandwidth per month. In addition there is a specific large file transfer capabilitity. $99/year. go to MobileMe.com for more details.
Thanks Terry

Will do

Woody
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I actually use this for my clients sometimes and load a gallery of jpegs for them to just download. It makes my life a lot simpler than trying to deliver a CD or DVD right away. Than mail them a DVD with the high res stuff. You can also upload the high res stuff to if you need that for some files . Plus if your on a Mac and actually 2 or more the .mac account or new me account makes a lot of sense with syncing the two together. Let's not forget us Iphone users also with push mail and such
 

etrigan63

Active member
I am using a free service called Dropbox which works great. PC, Mac & (eventually) Linux. Uses Amazon's S3 clusters and a web service. The system creates a folder on your computer and then you just drop files into it. 2GB of space for now. Plop them in a Public folder and they get a URL that you can e-mail non-Dropbox folks to grab the files via browser. Also includes private shared folders and versioning.

http://getdropbox.com

I have a couple of invites left if anyone is interested.
 

robmac

Well-known member
Yo da man! Never thought of that!

Tried it on a test, took 10 secs and worked flawlessly. Think I'll just setup buddy as a new user with his own password/username on my machine with restricted access (just in case he talk in his sleep or at the bar ;>).

What is also cool is now gives me remote (password access) access to my machine.

Since we use a long-distance wifi system (not a permanent link) via wifi in house (hate cables) I have the extra security of simply dropping the connection at end of transfer and re-connecting thus invalidating the ftp address for a new one. Can a,so just uncheck ftp access when a file transfer isn't underway.

Will also check out dropbox, etc - just in case. Once mobile.me gets up and running w/o issues for awhile I need to get a website up, set.

Thanks all.


If you are on a mac you can very easily set up your very own ftp server via system preferences/sharing - in about 3 clicks. Once you turn the server on, the address under which the shared files can be found will be written on the window, i.e. something like ftp://your.ip.address/ and the folder where the shared files must be placed will also be clearly shown.

To access the files you need the password of the account holder. But you can always create a user just for this.

Of course, if you're not on a permanent connection, the address will change every time you reconnect, so you need to be in contact with the person downloading.

I've done this a few times, and it's dead easy. No need to pay 8.99 these days.

Although, I'm not sure if firewalls can cause problems, but in my experience they haven't.
 
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