Alternative "Sharing Sites/Uploading Files"

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I just signed up for GoDaddy. I love it so far. It's great. No bandwidth limits or anything. I don't know if you want to do something like that but it might be worth at least looking into.
Hugs

I use mediafire and 4shared all the time with no problems. I know lots of designers who do also. I have never had a problem with either of them...but I do have adblocker and malware protection on my computer.

I'll add that in the January Blog Train, at least two designers used Drop Box and when attempting to download their contributions, Drop Box said something to the effect that the pages were temporarily closed down due to excessive usage.

I've used Box.com for a LONG time. It's reliable, virus-free, and free. It doesn't have the largest capacity (as in storage space) available for a free service, but otherwise I love it. I've never had a problem with too many downloads even when I did a large blog train.

Never used Google Drive, but after your posts, I will definitely try that soon!
Thanks for the thread, lots of info.

I've used (downloading & uploading) to a few different sites. When I'm downloading freebies, unless its something I absolutely have to have, I won't download it if its from 4shared. I HATE 4shared. Did I tell you I HATE 4shared yet? Well, I HATE 4shared. smiley My personal preference is Media Fire. I don't know why you all don't like it. I actually will bypass a lot of freebies if they aren't a Media Fire download. I don't know why people find it confusing. Its the big green button that says "download". ?? I don't mind other ones like Skydrive or Google drive. I guess its all what you get use to. I'll be sticking to Media Fire myself.

Do you have a paid membership, or just the free one (if there is any at Mediafire)?

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Do you have a paid membership, or just the free one (if there is any at Mediafire)?

I have a free Media Fire account. I find it easy to use and very convenient. I like it because I can also get stats on how many people download each file. I couldn't find anywhere on skydrive or google drive that gave me stats on downloads for each file.

Have any of you used GE.TT? It's quite new, I have seen it appear on some big facebook-trains lately. They seem to be very easy to use (just drag and drop) and are mobile/social media friendly, which is a plus (at least it would be if I owned a smartphone, lol). And, Publish magazine recommended them... (a no1 designers magazine for web and graphic designs). I think I'm going to give it a try this coming blogtrain... More info is right here: http://ge.tt/

I have a Ge.tt account but I haven't used it since I find Media Fire so easy to use (at least for me).

Okay, I'm trying to test my uploads with my folks for the APRIL Blog Hop and I decided to go with Google Drive.

BUT can anyone help me...

I loaded my zip file and turned around to download it and it tells me "Sorry, we are unable to scan this file for viruses".

Is this normal? I'm not sure if it's my own Avast that I use, or what, but I REALLY want downloaders to be able to have it scanned, cause I've turned away from downloading files that I get this message on. Is it just Google Docs, or is it my computer?

PS It still give the option to download anyways but how many of us would?...lol

Yes, it´s normal. It has the same message for all big files. I always download anyways, and prefer when I had this message because, when I don´t have it, it unzips the file for me, and I have to download the things one by one. That´s also why I put smaller downloads on dropbox.

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Google Docs is now referred to as Google Drive. They've made it so it can be synced to a folder on your computer(s). I use the drive but not the syncing , it slows down my computer too much.

I am so glad you mentioned this! I have both Google Drive and SugarSync. I only just got the latter. Lately, my PC has been dragging! When I read what you wrote, it suddenly hit me. That's why my PC is running slow! It was around the same time as when I got SugarSync that I noticed the PC running so slow. I have turned it off for now.

Thank you!!

Su

Does anyone know if we can do a direct link at Google Drive?

I've also had the trouble of wanting to update my zip file at Google Drive, (I decided to zip everything together ~ elements and papers cause I figured it was small enough) but I made the mistake of trying to be smart, and it's so USER FRIENDLY that it thinks it knows the file, and added a prefix of OLD to it, and my fathers computer who downloaded the first thought it was working with the old file!

And the only link I was able to find to use was to the page that shows the inside of the zip file. Which took me having to "screen-share" and guide my computer LITERATE father through the downloading process. I'd like the fact that there's apparently no bandwidth, but without the virus scanning - even with AVAST, it's not looking good!

OHHHhhhh and I almost forgot the FIRST roadblock with it all. HE was asked to log into his google account, before he even was shown the download page!

I have basically stopped downloading anything Medifire or 4share. Twice on Medifire pornagraphic ads have popped up and I am really scared of getting a virus, plus the shock factor of the ad. I didn't like the fact on 4share that I had to get an account to use it. I had it once and it seemed like it was messing with other stuff on my computer and slowing it down.

I've been experimenting with them all and so far the only one that works reliably without quirks is Skydrive. I would like to learn how to set up my blog so that you could click on the preview pic and it would download without having to "go" somewhere else. Anyone know anything about how to do that?

Janet Hull knows a way where you pay some dollars to mediafire and it allows you to do it, but I really don´t know how. I also saw somewhere it being done with a paid account of dropbox, but I don´t know how too. I have my files on direct download now (yay) because some designers of the other forum I´m at (Scraps and pieces) had bought an account on a file server host and shared the price. The price, shared among all the people, is 5 dollars, if I´m not mistaken. I thought it was cheap enough for the safety of people visiting my blog.

It's pretty easy on Dropbox to alter the URL so that it downloads directly. I'm not sure if it's the same with Skybox. The problem I've had with Dropbox is that a blogtrain sends too much traffic and they take the link down.

hi thanks for all advice and tips. smiley

I also love Mediafire. It's easy to dl and you can choose which folder (on your HD) you want to save to.

bump to top... and title changed... for other users to find easily smiley

I was a big fan of Media Fire, but for some reason, I can't upload my files to it anymore without errors, so I had to switch. I have since started using 2shared and ge.tt. I really like ge.tt because it tells you how many times the files have been downloaded. 2shared can be tricky for some people. They end up downloading iLivid instead of the file because there are big green download buttons and they think that's the button to click on to download your file. I ended up having to put a "tutorial" on my blog showing which button to click to download the files. Mediafire has gone that way too, so I guess its just as well that I can't use it anymore... I would have to say, for now, ge.tt is my preferred site for free file sharing...

When I first post on this topic, some months ago, I really liked MediaFire; it gave me downloads without waiting time, and wasn´t annoying at all; now I simply hate it. They changed layout two times since them, making trickier to find the correct link each time, and on the past month/45 days, it started to open a pop up ad with a "ok" box, that didn´t close if it isn´t clicked, in a way that, everytime it happens I need to forced close my browse not to click on the add and lose everything I was browsing. Now I only open mediafire if I really really must have that download.

I don't like pop ups and so when I got Mediafire I actually got the lowest "paid" version. I think it costs $1.50 a month and you pay $18 a year. I only give free stuff (have no plans to become a business because I am retired and don't want the headache) and so far I haven't had any problems with Mediafire. I don't know if it is because I pay for the service or not?

My biggest pet peeve is pop ups, advertising, so many "download" links for everything else and having to wait for a free download. So as far as I know people on my blog get a direct link with only a pop up to do the download in a small box. To me it is quick and easy and no one has to be bothered by advertisements.

I try to keep my blog the same. It is kind of a do unto others as you would have them do unto you - I want whatever I use to be how I would like it.

I'm thinking of just using my picasa until I start making full kits. I'm slowly practicing and waiting for when I hit 100 community points, so I can get some input on my first attempts.

The app/extension AdBlock Plus is available for all the common browsers, and I HIGHLY recommend it! I have it installed in Chrome. Typically, it blocks 5-10 ads/pop-ups per page when I visit Mediafire and 4Shared (there's an icon in my toolbar that tells me how many ads/pop-ups are blocked), so I know that they are ad-heavy, but I never see it.

When there aren't any ads or pop-ups, there's no confusion as to where the download buttons are at on 4Shared and Mediafire. I don't mind waiting 20 seconds with 4Shared because it helps me not to download too many files at once, lol. I have my own 4Shared account and I love that the files are kept indefinitely. I like Mediafire from a downloader's perspective (And the Mediafire capchas make me giggle - once, the capcha was "om nom nom"! LOL! smiley), but from an uploader's perspective I don't like that you have to pay for it to keep your files.

I have encountered problems with other services that many digital scrapbookers use, often with some of the cloud services - like sometimes the link to download an entire zip file is in a weird or hard-to-find spot and it has everything to do with (IMHO) bad design and not ads.

I'm going with 4Shared for now and maybe Google (because it's already storing stuff for my blog anyway) - my biggest concern is using a service that isn't going to just dump my files after a period of time, but affordability and usability are also definite concerns as well. I certainly don't want to use a service that scares away my downloaders.

I think if peeps would take a few minutes to arm themselves with AdBlock and/or NoScript a lot of the issues mentioned in this thread would be a moot point.

Since I installed "No Script" several years ago, I haven't picked up anything nasty or had any trouble with pop-ups or obnoxious ads. (I wasn't even sure what all the hub-bub was about MediaFire since it's been so long since I've seen anything but the download screen there.)

I just checked MediaFire's policy and even for free accounts, they won't delete your files unless you appear to have abandoned the account. They send two emails before they do anything, and all you need to do to save your account/files is log in. (That info is here if anyone wants to read the company policy for themselves.)

Thanks, Holly! smiley
I am confused now, though. On their sign-up page, they list out the features of all their plans and under the free "Basic" plan it says "short-term storage". Does anyone know what they mean by that? That was what led me to believe that your files would be deleted after a period of time if you did not subscribe.

I saw that, too and I am not sure unless they have just chosen their wording there in a way that might encourage people to pay for an account. I will mention that I have had a free account for five or six years and I haven't had any files deleted. I have gotten the first warning e-mail when I haven't logged in for several months, but if you check your email regularly, it is no big deal to log in and keep your account from being deleted.

Maybe it's because they delete accounts for inactivity...? I suppose that if you were inactive and let your account lapse then it would be temporary storage! lol. ... kinda like what happened to me and my Yahoo! Mail account. smiley

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