Alternative "Sharing Sites/Uploading Files"

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Alternative "Sharing Sites/Uploading Files"

I decided to do the December Blog train (because I have nothing else to do with the upcoming Holiday season ??) I set up a blog but now I need to set up a downloading service. Any recommendations?

I set up an account and tested out Mediafire, but I don't really like it, I find it confusing for the downloader, you end up clicking on something that downloads an exe, and my PC security really doesn't like it. Anyone use anything else that they can recommend? I don't even mind paying a little bit for it to remove ads or annoyances or whatever.

I have a Dropbox account but I think it only lets you link to individual files and not folders, so that won't work, unless I am missing something.

Okay, after a bit of scrounging around, I found a good article which talks about all the choices. Start on page 5. Pages 1-4 are mostly what you shouldn't do, like Mediafire. smiley Looks like Dropbox IS a good alternative as is Skydive and Google Docs. If anyone has any experience with any of these or others I'd love to hear about it.

Here's the link to the article on P2P - or Peer to Peer file sharing systems

I use "box.com". There is also SugarSync. I'm not familiar with all of them, so I hope you get a few more suggestions.

I've used 4shared for a blog I had where I was uploading frequent docs. I never did any really big files, though, so I don't know what kind of limitations it has, but it's been good so far.

I've used 4Shared for several years. I've had a paid account which was....I stress WAS very nice. I was able to give direct download links or indirect links which didn't use up as much bandwidth. The indirect link just takes the downloader to the 4Shared page but they didn't have to wait for the timer in order to download the item. Then they changed it and required the downloader to have an account before they were able to download. Now that my subscription is up I am moving all of my files to SugarSync. They do require a payment (small amount) in order to share a larger file or folder but to me it's worth it not to have to deal with the corrupt files and such from 4Shared...that started to happen way to often for my taste. It seems like 4Shared grew too big and they couldn't handle it so they started getting sloppy. They also use a 3rd party vender to handle their payments which I don't feel real comfortable about entering my credit card info into cyberspace with a company I've never heard of or has little to no information about themselves on their website. BUT...I as far as free services, I would prefer 4Shared over Mediafire anyday.
Hope this helps a little.

Great input ladies, thanks so much. I'm still doing some research and figured out that I can use my DropBox account. But I've never heard of SugarSync so I'm going to check them out too.

I use 4shared at this moment for everything.. Maybe i should start looking at other options... But i want a free one since i only share freebies and don't wanna pay a lot to do that smiley

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Looks like Dropbox IS a good alternative as is Skydive and Google Docs. If anyone has any experience with any of these or others I'd love to hear about it.

Hi Tina! I use Dropbox and Google docs daily. What would you like to know?
Dropbox - you can link to any file in your account - and the people who click on the links don't have to create an account either - and you can share most folders. I use the public folder only for the links that I put on my class website. I also advise everyone I know to download the Dropbox App for their smart phones because it automatically adds every photo and video taken with a device (phone or tablet) and uploads it to your Dropbox account, therefore creating an auto back-up of those precious files in case of theft, damage, or other glitches (usually in upgrading the software). I also like that I no longer have to search for cords for my camera...

Google Docs - excellent way to collaborate on documents! I'm in charge of the Google Apps for Education portal at our school, so I teach the kids how to use this for all their assignments and projects. They love that they can "hand it in" with just a click! Google Docs (or Drive on some formats) also allows for extra privacy and controls - I can share a file but only allow comments and restrict downloads - if I give a Dropbox link, then a person with that link can download the file and make changes that I can't see. Google Docs keeps track of variations to a document, which is very useful in education and business. There are other things I like about Google...but I won't take up any more space! If you want a tutorial on Google Docs, I can set one up with you live!

My students researched online storage and P2P file sharing, and these were our top two pics. IDrive was also in the top results.

@Tina: If you want to upload a folder to Dropbox, just zip it first and then upload it.

I used dropbox briefly, but they shut down my links because there were too many people downloading. I'm not sure at what point you reach too many people, so just know that can happen.

As for MediaFire and 4shared, I know that people are always saying not to use MediaFire, but I've always had an easy time with it, and I find downloading from 4shared to be a giant pain and rarely worth my time. This seems not to be how most people find it though, so I'm not sure what's up with my experience.

Maybe i should think about moving over to Mediafire then...

About 4shared, i find it very easy.. Sure you'll have to wait for 20 sec befor downloading... But if you do it like me itäs not a problem.. I just open like 5 och 10 (diffesrent blogs) windows at the same time and download smiley 20 sec are long past befor your done with all the others anyway smiley

@Jody - thanks for all that good info, thorough and informative, just like an educator! smiley I will take another look at Google docs - seems like the best option.

And @Marisa, I wondered if excessive downloads might be a problem with DropBox (at some point). I love DropBox but that's good info.

@Jessica - I do the same thing at Mediafire, click the 'wait 20 sec' button and then open another browser window and download something else smiley that's not too annoying. My primary issue with download sites are the one's where it's not excruciatingly clear what to click on. You can click on the wrong thing and something bad will happen to your computer smiley MediaFire is not as bad as some others.

Yeah Tina i'm with you there... Sites like spendsafe etc are bad... Even i got a virus from there once and i don't wanna get one again... It almost shut down my whole computer...

4shared, mediafire, box, dropbox is the once i havnät had any problems with... But dropbox donä't like too much traffic and is not a safe bet for that reason smiley

@Tina - from the perspective of the one downloading - I cringe when a link goes to Mediafire and 4shared. I understand the need for a free way to provide files (especially when it's a freebie smiley. The advertising doesn't bother me, but the devious "download" buttons/links that download software really bugs me. If you can make it work - Google docs, box.net, and Skydrive are much easier from this side. Dropbox.com is another alternative that offers free storage. I've been using it with an online class, and it works well. Good luck on your search!

Oh, that's a good point about 4Shared. Normally I don't like to create an account just to be able to download a freebie, but since I already had a 4Shared, I hadn't thought much about it. I do like the way they changed the wait 20 seconds button so that you could click on it and then open other browsers & go about your business.

@Tina, I agree about the unclear sites. They always make me a little nervous. Mediafire at least is pretty straightforward even if it does manage to get around my pop-up blocker.

Can you upload zip files to Google Drive? I thought it was just for docs, presentations & the like.

@Rae - that is my concern EXACTLY. The other day I was sent to one of those sites from a designer's blog train to download a freebie kit and I almost got a virus. My computer just went black immediately - luckily I have good security - but it scared the noodles out of me. I had clicked on the wrong thing. I wondered if I should notify the designer or not. At any rate, I don't want to put someone else in that predicament.

Google docs is sounding like a good option. I need to get it figured out and tested before the December Blog Train which I'm SO excited about I could scream. smiley <-- that's me screaming

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Can you upload zip files to Google Drive? I thought it was just for docs, presentations & the like.

@Lady Phillippa - Yup! You can upload most types of files to Google Docs b/c it is for file storage; however, you may not be able to open the files from within Google Docs, they'll have to be downloaded to another computer. There are apps available through Chrome to open zipped files in Google Docs, but I haven't tried them yet.
Note: turn the conversion OFF when uploading files of this type.

Anyway, I tested out uploading a zipped file of fonts, and they are there! smiley

Learn something new every day! Thanks. That's very good to know.

Some of you say that mediafire is not recommended, and I´d like to ask why. Most of the blog trains I´ve been downloading last months were on it, and I don´t think its difficult to operate - at least for the downloader, as I never uploaded anything to it.

As I hope to make a portion for our blog train, I´d like to know more about it.

I also don't know why people don't like MediaFire. I've taken part in some blog trains where the advise against it, but neither I nor Jordan can really figure out why. I've only had success with it.

I think the biggest issue with MediaFire is simply knowing where to click: all the misleading ads around the sides are annoying, but otherwise I do find it much better to use than any of the other free file sharing sites (both on the uploading and downloading side--nice interface for uploading, and no waiting for downloading). Still, services like Google Drive, Dropbox etc. are probably better options if you haven't hit the bandwidth/file size limits imposed on free users...

As far as I know Google Drive has no bandwidth limits on free accounts, which makes it a very good option indeed if you can stay within the 5 GB of free file space...

If you don't mind paying a bit, I think Amazon S3 is the way to go...

I don't upload, but I do download. From the "consumer" perspective: I dislike both Mediafire and 4Shared because of the enormous amounts of ads. Box.com is a lot more user-friendly, as is Dropbox. I haven't used Google Drive for downloads, so I can't judge there, though I have worked with Google Docs (for sharing, not downloading) and that has a pretty simple structure too. I try to stay away from heavily 'clogged' download-pages and the waiting-for-20-seconds timer has also turned me off more than once...

Has anyone tried Box.net? My blog as a widget for that option.

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.

There is also Wetransfer that can handle pretty big files. Be careful with box because I have often seen the monthly bandwidth maximum reached in no time during design contests...

For this Blog Train I used Google Drive and liked it okay, but I find it somewhat confusing. I also tried out Sky Drive and I liked it better, very straight forward, puts all your zips on one page for the viewer to see. You get 7G to start and can add more. I downloaded a few kits from designers who have DropBox and I thought that worked well. May give that a try.

The big issue with dropbox and box is the limit. Otherwise they are really good, but for a blogtrain etc when a lot of people gonna download it will almost surely run out smiley

I do like skydrive very much, think i may head over to that sometime smiley

I'm looking into cloud photo storage. Thanks for all the suggestions here. I've never heard of SugarSync but I really what I see so far. Question for those who have used SugarSync: can you see thumbnails of pictures? We have a lot of photos to upload and it would help if we could see a thumbnail instead of just the file name.

Mediafire does not give you a virus! Malware does. 70% of blog pages have it. Search engines including Craft Crave - Creative Busy Hands and Suzee Q's have it. That is what attacks your computer. If you sign up for mediafire you will not get pop ups. It is free. Have popup blocker on your toolbar and your search engine. I use firefox and never get a pop ups. I also have Malwarebytes, that blocks malware. (You can get a free trial and scan your computer) I use mediafire and 4 shared. Hope this helps some of you.

RE: ads on those sites --- there is a free Firefox extension I like using called AdBlock Plus which hides all the annoying ads. You might have to tweak the settings a little depending on whether you want it to block ads on all sites or just on specific websites.

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Mediafire does not give you a virus! Malware does. 70% of blog pages have it. Search engines including Craft Crave - Creative Busy Hands and Suzee Q's have it.

Is this true about those search engines?

Shuckclod- I almost always get pop ups with Mediafire and I am a registered user. Having said that, I use Avast antivirus and haven't had a problem..

Sorry...but I can't help out here... smiley

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