How To Share Big Files Over the Internet the Fast, Easy and Free Way

Posted 10/20/2011 at 3:08pm | by Paul Escallier

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Sharing Through the Cloud

Cloud storage has become increasingly popular over the past few years, and it’s the best way to share most digital files. Photo sharing is something we’re all accustomed to, using tools like Picasa or Photobucket work well for doling out our freeze-frame memories – heck, even Facebook makes for a decent enough photo sharing experience. But what about video files or your newly compressed ZIP files filled with all sorts of random junk? Well, there’s room on the cloud for those, too.

Dropbox

When it comes to free, Dropbox is the way to go. Free accounts are allowed a full 2GB of cloud storage space. Sweetening the deal is the fact that there’s no file size limit to speak of. If it fits in your allotted storage, you can upload it – well, from the desktop app, anyway. This essentially makes Dropbox a completely free tool to share files up to 2GB in size. In addition to the web storage space, Dropbox also has a handful of useful tools that make it simple to use, and convenient. Both iOS and Android devices have apps available to share and manage files directly from your phone or tablet.

The only problem you’ll run into is when you want to share more than 2GB of data. Dropbox sells 50GB and 100GB accounts for $10 and $20 per month, respectively. These prices aren’t bad, but there’s a more affordable way to go about it, especially if you don’t expect to fill up that full 50GB of space.

Google Docs

Google Docs isn’t just for documents anymore. Google laughs in the face of 2GB files. In fact, Google’s file limit is a whopping 10GB. Unfortunately, your free Google Docs account is limited to 1GB of total storage. Bummer, right? Not to worry though, just $5 per year nets you an additional 20GB across your entire Google account, making it one of the cheapest ways to share pretty freaking big files.

It’s pretty difficult to beat Google’s pricing anywhere else, but you do miss out on some of the useful tools services like Dropbox provide. Sharing a file is still pretty simple; all you have to do is upload it and invite people to share it with (which will require them to log in to their Google account) or create a public link anyone can use (not sign-in required). And while you can’t currently upload arbitrary file types in Google Docs’ mobile apps, you can still manage and share files.

DIY Cloud Storage

If you’re reasonably tech savvy and trust that your internet connection is reliable enough, you can host your own cloud server rather cheaply and effectively. All you need is a storage-ready router (the Netgear WNDR3700 is one of our favorites), an external hard drive, and just a bit of networking knowhow. This hard drive/router pairing not only gives you a cheap NAS solution, but also a very simple FTP or even HTTP file server.

Because this method is dependent on your own upload speed, it’s best suited for sharing a file with a single person (and ideally NOT while you’re trying to pwn in any online games).

What About Uber-Large Files?

So you want to share a 10GB+ sized file with someone? Honestly, unless your internet is considerably faster than average in terms of upload speed, you’re probably better off mailing it on a collection of DVD-Rs or a USB drive. With the average American’s internet connection, a 10GB file will take upwards of 13 hours to upload, and that’s assuming the connection is stable enough to get through the task successfully on the first try.

Of course for those with fast connections and those willing to wait it out, the DIY cloud storage solution above is able to tackle a file uploads of megalithic proportions, especially when it’s configured as an FTP server with file resuming enabled. There are also a few other options.

FTP and Web Servers

There are a handful of hosting solutions available these days, and even some of the cheapest of them offer unlimited storage space and unlimited bandwidth. Of these, iPage, FatCow, and JustHost are the cheapest (as low as $42 per year) and best rated. These all offer both an FTP interface (for use with programs like FileZilla) and a web interface. When dealing with extremely large files, the FTP option is far superior, simply because it allows you to resume failed transfers. On top of the storage space, you can even create your own website. They don’t exactly smile on people using their servers for file storage, but as long as you’re not hosting terabytes of data, they generally don’t mind. And, of course, they’ll cut you off immediately if you’re sharing copyright protected files—but you wouldn’t be sharing those anyway…would you?

Torrents

P2P file sharing at its finest and the MPAA/RIAA’s biggest headache, torrents are an excellent way to share files with large masses of people simultaneously or when time is not a limiting factor. If you’re familiar with torrents, odds are you already have the tools necessary to create your own torrent files. Both µTorrent and Vuze are popular torrent clients that include a torrent creation wizard. Creating your own torrent is simple, but be sure to add at least one working tracker, such as those available at http://publicbt.com/.

Once created, all you have to do is distribute the tiny torrent file to your friends so that they can initiate the download using their own torrent clients. Similar to the DIY cloud server, torrents are dependent on your own internet speed, but unlike most router-based cloud setups, you can limit the upload speed so that it won’t cripple your internet while the file is downloaded. Plus, when sharing with multiple parties, everyone will be able to share everyone else’s bandwidth. Just be sure to keep your torrent client running until at least one of your friends has downloaded the entire file, and keep in mind that the files you share through torrents aren’t necessarily private.

TL;DR

If you want to share files but are too lazy to read this entire article, here’s the gist of it:

Grab yourself 7zip (or WinRar or any other compression software you prefer) and zip your files when necessary in order to save space and turn many files into one file. The ZIP file format is preferred. It’s not the best for compression (for that you’ll want the 7z format), but it’s the most universal.

Email works for smaller files, as most mail servers will limit attachments to 10MB. For anything larger than 10MB, Dropbox is your best bet, so long as you don’t have more than 2GB to share. When it comes to sharing more than 2gigs, your only free options are torrents or a makeshift cloud drive, built from a USB storage-ready router, but both of these options are best reserved for those with killer fast internet connections.

If you’re willing to spend a bit of money, Google Docs gives you the best value. With a 10GB file size limit and up to 400GB of space for less than $10, it’ll work for just about anyone’s file sharing needs.

If your files are bigger than 10GB, it might be time to invest in an FTP server. Unlimited web hosting services are available for under $50 per year, but they don’t play nice if you abuse the “unlimited” portion of that deal. Tiered web space solutions aren’t nearly as cheap.