How to Transfer Big Files Over the Internet

Consider this, you have just clicked a few photographs of your rollicking road trip with your best buddies. You want to mail them to some of those who could not make it to the trip. Or there is this very heavy office document you want to share with your colleagues, it is very very important. Your mail is giving you real tough time. What do you do? Normal mail accounts with standard Internet access speed will help you share files as big as 10 mb. That too, you cannot be sure that the person you are sending the mail will have that bit of space in the inbox. This is where some specialized websites and FTP comes in the picture.

Transferring Large Files Over the Internet

Thanks to the technological advancement, there a several ways in which large and heavy files can be shared and sent over Internet. Take a look.

It is the Protocol
the tech geeks reading this would not have to be told about FTP, that is File Transfer Protocol, I am sure! All the same, FTP is a simple and a very common procedure. You would need label for FTP site (e.g., My companyname FTP Space), FTP Host Address (e.g. members.companyname.com), username and password for an FTP set up. This gives necessary support to let you transfer heavy files on the Internet. All you need to do after you get the FTP setup is log on to a site using your user name and password. Follow that up by uploading the file you want. Mail the site link or better still where you have uploaded the file to the recipient. That's it! The recipient can download the file through that link!

No Protocol Here
Another way in which you can send big files over the Internet, is the Non FTP way. You can accomplish a large file transfer with the help of hosted server. What you can do is embed a link and have download instructions to go with it. It will make it easier for the recipient just in case the website link FTP does not work. When talking about how to share files over the Internet, you cannot ignore this method.

Sheer Peer
A peer file sharing protocol is another way of transferring big files over the Internet. Something like BitTorrent can be taken a shot at. Bit Torrent though is not as easy or uncomplicated as FTP or non FTP, but still, it works. Now what happens when a large file is distributed through bit Torrent? Simply put, when a file is being shared with the help of Bit Torrent, it is usually stored in parts on numerous computers and they are hooked up or connected through Internet. It reduces the bandwidth and software cost as the original file is stored at several places and not just one.

The Sighting the Site
There are a number of websites which help you send big files over the Internet. Some such websites are:

• YouSendIt
• SendThisFile.com
• MailBigFile - Simple and to the point, MailBigFile lets you send files up to 100MB for free with no software download or registration.
• DropSend - with facility of emailing files up to 1GB each, and provides the facility that you can use it as your own file backup system.
• Send 6
• HotShare is another interesting service where you can upload and share files and do not have to register. However, you will have to decide if you want to share your file only with the recipient or with everyone.

All these methods, eventually come with their package of advantages and disadvantages. It is there fore difficult to say which one works the best! It is up to you to decide which one suits you amongst these.