Big Files, Big Problems Part II

Last month was all about the challenges of dealing with big files; especially the limits of drives and computers. There were a lot of big numbers. This month I promise that there will be very few numbers as we continue the discussion around the challenges of moving large files.

I regularly get asked for solutions to several related problems: sharing large files, syncing files across separate computers and backing up files safely.

Email used to be regularly used for some of this, but as files have grown larger, the limits of email for file sharing have become more obvious. Many email providers have file size limits for example. Various physical media have been used over the years, floppies, zip drives and the like. CDs were the file exchange media of choice for quite a while. Their use has been supplanted by USB drives for the most part, but even USB drives have issues. The need to physically transport the drive from one place to another is an example.

Enter the online file storage provider. Note that I'm not going to be discussing bittorrent sharing nor any of the classic pirate sharing sites like rapidshare.com or mediafire.com. Those are more appropriate for distributing to people you don't know.

A classic problem is getting a big file, say over 1GB, to a friend. An easy solution: create an online account at DropBox.com. Up to 2GB of storage is free. 50GB is available for $10/month. Upload your file to your public folder, email your friend the public link that DropBox gives you and they download it with a click.

Now let's go through that a little slower. DropBox.com is an online file storage site. One of the best in my opinion. Creating an account is free and easy. Just follow the Get Started section. Download the app, install it and start copying files. Windows, Mac, Linux and the iPhone are supported.

When you install the app it creates a folder. Any file you put in this folder is uploaded. This happens in the background automagically. You use the folder the same way you would use any folder on your computer. When you install DropBox on a second computer, and use the same login credentials, all the files that you added are now in the DropBox folder on the second computer. Ta Da!

Install the app on your iPhone and use the same login credentials and all the files are now on your iPhone. Amazing.

DropBox integrates itself with Windows Explorer and OSX Finder. When you copy a file into the public folder of your DropBox folder you can right-click on the file and get a Public Link. This is a URL that you can email to anyone. If they click on the URL they get a prompt to download the file. Easy as pie.

One warning here: there have been incidents recently of people spamming with emails that look like a file link to online file storage locations (none involving DropBox.com as far as I know) but the link is to a site with a more nefarious intent. Just make sure that you're expecting a link from someone before you click on any link in any email message.

Well, now you have online storage, what can you do with it? Besides the obvious file exchange, DropBox can of course be used for backup. Another trick is file access when you're away from your computer. Because DropBox.com also has a web interface, you can access your files from any location with a web browser and internet access. One trick I use is to store a bunch of my standard programs up there so if I'm fixing a friend's computer and they need a virus scanner, for example, I log into DropBox and download it. Another trick I use is to archive travel documents with a password, and store then in DropBox before I leave. Then if my documents get stolen or lost I just walk into any internet cafe anywhere on the planet and I can get them back.

Another way to use DropBox is for project teams. Create a login, separate from your personal one, that you share with your project team. Now all the files that you put in the DropBox folder are available to them. They can work on them, save them and their changes are automagically updated in your folder. You've just created a virtual workspace for your team/family/class etc.

I'm sure that you can probably come up with even more ways to take advantage of an online file storage location.

Happy Computing.