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We've all probably been in this situation: you need to send a file to someone, but it's too big to send via email, since most Internet providers block anything larger than a couple of megabytes — and nowadays, even some digital photos can take up more space than that. What to do?
You could burn the file to a compact disc and then mail it, but that takes too long and costs too much. Or if you're a geek you could just set up an FTP (file transfer protocol) server on your PC and then give your friend a login and let them download the file. But what if you're just a regular person? If whoever you want to give it to lives nearby, you could put it on a USB storage device, or upload it to your iPod perhaps.
If you want a simple solution to this everyday problem, look no further than (of course) the Web. There are more than a dozen services that can help you send large files, and the best part is that they are almost all free. The big names include DropSend.com, MediaMax, YouSendIt.com and SendThisFile.com. If you regularly send large files to someone -- photos or other documents, for example -- all of the above services give you an online storage account where you can upload whatever you want, and then tell the system who you want to share those files with.
Once you upload the files and pick who to send them to, your friend or relative gets an email with a clickable link, and when they click that they get the file. In effect, these services act as an FTP server without all the hassle of having to actually set one up. You get a certain amount of storage for free, and in most cases you can pay a certain amount per month and get more. YouSendIt's free service only allows you to send files of up to 100 megabytes, DropSend is one gigabyte, and MediaMax from Streamload allows you to store as much as 25 gigabytes for free.
MediaMax and other options — including Box.net — are aimed at allowing users to store large files and share them (streaming audio, video, etc.) as well as letting people download them. SendThisFile is at the other end of the spectrum: It isn't aimed at online storage, but is simply designed to be a one-click option for sending large files. You register, then use a simple "browse" search box to find the file, click "SendThisFile" and it uploads and sends a link in an email message to the recipient of your choice. There's no restriction on how large the file can be and no restriction on how many files you can send per month, and the files remain on SendThisFile's servers for three days.
There are others too: MagicVortex.com has a limit of two gigabytes, but you have to pay a monthly fee (it has a 30-day free trial). A service called YouLoad is very similar, and so is Fatfile.com. Civil Netizen is a program that allows you to send files (or a series of files) of up to four gigabytes, and it is free -- but you have to download and install the software in order to use it. BeamFile is similar, in that it has to be downloaded as well, but it has a five-gigabyte limit. Pando is another downloadable application that lets you send large files, and has a plugin for Outlook; it uses the BitTorrent standard, which uses "peer-to-peer" technology.
Another way of sending files is through an application like FolderShare, which was acquired by Microsoft last year. It allows you to "synchronize" folders on two different computers, so that the contents are always kept up-to-date -- a solution that might be attractive if you are always sending photos to certain family members. Just put the photos in whatever folder you tell FolderShare to monitor, and it will transfer them to the designated folder on the other computer silently and in the background.
