large-file sharing sites

I recently had to shuffle some gigabyte-sized files around, and so needed to take a fresh look at ways to share very large files over the internet. Sad to day, many email systems limit file attachments to 20MB or so. That used to be enough for a book. Now it's maybe enough for a few vacation snapshots.

Of course, you can break a large file into bite-sized pieces with ZIP-type archivers, email the chunks, and let the recipient reassemble them pieces back into their original whole. It works, but is a pain.

If you have your own domain and the hosting service has generous disk space allowances, you can transfer large files that way. I sold my domains along with my newsletter business, and so didn't have that option. (I do have LangaOnline.com registered, but it's just a placeholder site with no real server access.)

There are commercial remote-access and remote-control services such as LogMeIn or GoToMyPC. They can work great, but are overkill for simple file transfer....

But perhaps the easiest way is to use any of the large-file-sharing services. There are literally dozens and dozens, and the list changes almost every day. But what you normally get for free is a way to upload a large file to a central server; which then generates a download URL you that can email to your intended recipients. They click the URL to download the file from the server to their PC. The server then deletes its copy of the file.

Most free services entice you to become a paying customer by "throttling" the upload or download speeds so transferring a large file takes quite a while. If you're in a hurry, you can bypass the artificial speed limits by paying the (usually) modest signup fee. But if speed isn't your top priority, the slower up/download speed can work just fine. Just let it cook as a background task while you use your PC for other things.

Some of these large-file services require that you install a small up/download manager. Others require no extra software.

Here's a list of many of the current crop of large-file services. There'll be some duds in here--- the services come and go all the time--- but if you need a cheap way to send very large files, this should at least provide a couple of options:

MyShareFile -->> Max File Size 150MB -->> http://www.mysharefile.com/

iHud -->> Max File Size 50MB -->> http://ihud.com/

BigFilez -->> Max File Size 50MB -->> http://www.bigfilez.com/

UploadSpy -->> Max File Size 75MB -->> http://www.uploadspy.com/

Streamload -->> Max 25,000 MBs Per Account -->> http://www.streamload.com/

BestSharing -->> Max File Size 150MB -->> http://www.bestsharing.com/

Content-Type -->> Max File Size 100MB -->> http://www.content-type.com/

FileGig -->> Max File Size 1000MB -->> http://www.filegig.com/upload.php

FileWire -->> Max File Size 250MB -->> http://www.filewire.com/

MyCHost -->> Max File Size 250MB -->> http://filehost.mychost.com/

UploadFarm -->> Max File Size 100MB -->> http://www.uploadfarm.com/

Badongo -->> Max File Size 1000MB -->> http://www.badongo.com/

AxiFile -->> Max File Size 150MB -->> http://www.axifile.com/

EasyFileHost -->> Max File Size 1000MB -->> http://www.easyfilehost.com/

FileHost.RO -->> Max File Size 100MB -->> http://www.filehost.ro/

FilesXfer -->> Max File Size Unlimited -->> http://www.filesxfer.com/

FTP.nu -->> Max File Size 100MB -->> http://www.ftp.nu/

OxyShare -->> Max File Size 700MB -->> http://www.oxyshare.com/

Up-File -->> Max File Size 1000MB -->> http://up-file.com/

11Send -->> Max File Size 100MB -->> http://www.11send.com/

Sharelor -->> Max File Size 200MB -->> http://www.sharelor.com/

UShareIt -->> Max File Size 50MB -->> http://www.ushareit.com/

UploadSend -->> Max File Size 50MB -->> http://www.uploadsend.com/

TurboUpload -->> Max File Size 70MB -->> http://www.turboupload.com/

11Mbit.in -->> Max File Size 40MB (Constantly Raised) -->> http://s4.11mbit.in/

WebFileHost -->> Max File Size 500MB -->> http://www.webfilehost.com/index.php

FTPz.US -->> Max File Size 1001MB -->> http://ftpz.us/