Sharing or sending files via eMail is very inconvenient. First of all
some files are simply too big to be eMailed. Secondly, when the
recipient downloads mail they cannot control when to download the file
and for the time it takes until the eMail is transferred they are stuck.
And last but not least, someone downloading mail at work may find that
some file types are blocked by default, thus they may never even receive
the file.
The solution is to put the files online and provide the
potential recipients with the download link. But what do you do when
you don’t have your own webspace?
You turn to online file sharing
websites. There are dozens. Here is a selection of the most convenient
ones. They don’t require signing up for an account and provide different
options.
File Savr
At
File Savr you can upload files of up to 10GB. There is no public file
library, but files may not be considered private as the file name may be
guessed. There is no time cap on how long items will be stored, the
only limitation being that they must be downloaded on a regular basis.
File Dropper
It
may not really be the fastest, but along with File Savr it is
definitely one of the most convenient free file hosting tools currently
on the market. It allows any file type of up to 5GB in size to be
uploaded. Files are available publicly and anyone can browse the file
database at File Dropper. Files are stored for as long as they are being
downloaded.
RapidShare
This
is certainly the most popular file hosting destination. While it allows
for only 200MB, it provides the possibility to upload up to 10 files
simultaneously. Unfortunately, the total sum of files may not exceed
200MB in the case of multiple uploads.
[NO LONGER WORKS] share1t
Straight
forward file sharing of up to 100MB per file. Unlike all previous
hosts, share1t clearly states for how long file will be available: it’s
15 days of inactivity, then the file will be deleted. After a file was
uploaded you can copy the URL, have the link sent to an eMail address or
copy the HTML or BBCode to embed it on a website or forum. Very
convenient!
Wikisend
The
file limit with this host is 100MB and the default lifetime is 7 days. A
download link and forum link will be provided. Furthermore you can set
properties for the file before and after uploading (after only with an
account). You can change the file name, increase the lifetime to up to
90 days, add a description and protect the file with a password. The
latter is unique among the file sharing hosts mentioned in this article.
