The essence of the question “How to send a large file?” boils down to the fact that we have to send a file, the size of which may exceed the maximum allowable limit of the service (or program) with which we are sending the “heavy” file.

Counting on the Russian “maybe”, you can try to send a large file in any way known to you. If the file can be sent, then everything is great!

Otherwise, you will have to try other services (or programs) in order to send a large file. First we need to decide how big our file is.

If you right-click on the file icon, a context menu will appear, which will list everything that can be done with the selected file (Fig. 1):

Rice. 1 File properties

We are interested in the file properties, so click on the “Properties” command:

Rice. 2 Determine the file size

Thus, we determine that the Fotoknigi file size is 17.1. This is a small file in size and you can use regular email to send it.

How to send a large file (up to 50 GB) using DropMeFiles?

DropMeFiles is a free instant file sharing service:

Advantages of the dropmefiles service:

• Free
• Without registering
• You can send files up to 50 Gigabytes

Disadvantages of the dropmefiles service:

• File storage period limit – 14 days

But DropMeFiles is designed to share files, NOT store them, so you can send and receive large files within 14 days.

Rice. 3 DropMeFiles – free instant file sharing service

• 1st method. We reduce the window with the DropMeFiles service to about half the screen. On the second half of the screen, open a window with the folder in which our file is stored. Grabbing the file with the left mouse button, drag it (almost like a cat drags its kitten “by the scruff of the neck”) to the DropMeFiles service and release the mouse inside the circle with the inscription “Drag files here.”

• 2nd method. On the DropMeFiles service, move the mouse cursor to the inscription “Drag files here,” after which this inscription turns into another: “or click to select files.” Click on it and in the window that appears, we will use the opportunity to find a file to transfer on your computer (steps 1-3 in Fig. 4):

Rice. 4 Open file for upload to DropMeFiles

We find our file, click on the file icon (number 1 in Fig. 4), after which the file name automatically appears in the “File name” line (number 2 in Fig. 4). Click on the “Open” button for the selected file and the file is immediately uploaded from your computer to the DropMeFiles service.

Rice. 5 File uploaded to DropMeFiles

Fill in fields 1 and 2 in Fig. 5:

• In field 1, enter the email address of the person to whom the file is being sent. Instead of an email, you can send an SMS message (within Russia).

• In field 2, enter your name or your e-mail so that it is clear who the message came from. When fields 1 and 2 in Fig. 3 are filled in, click on the arrow (circled in a red frame in Fig. 5).

When sending by e-mail, we receive the following message on the screen (Fig. 6):

Rice. 6 Message about sending a file from DropMeFiles

How can a friend receive a file from you that was transferred to them using DropMeFiles?

Your friend will receive an email from you with the subject “You have been sent files to DropMeFiles” with the following content:
"Your files have been sent to DropMeFiles
Sender: Nadezhda
To download them follow the link:
http://dropmefiles.com/UCYzv
Link expires 01/29/2013 10:08"

A friend follows the link specified in the letter and sees the same picture as in Fig. 7:

Rice. 7 Download file from DropMeFiles

By clicking on the “Download All” button, a friend downloads a file (or files) from the DropMeFiles service to his computer, and the files are downloaded at high speed.

How to send a large file (up to 20 GB) using Yandex?

As of October 2014, the maximum allowable size of one file that can be attached to one Yandex letter is 30 Megabytes.

If you need to attach several files to a Yandex letter, then their total maximum allowed size is also 30 Megabytes. Technical aspects of attaching a file are outlined in the article “”.

Below is information from the official website help.yandex.ru/mail/letter/attachments.xml:

The maximum size of attachments for one letter is 30 MB.

If the size of attachments exceeds the allowed size, the files will be automatically uploaded to your Yandex.Disk (folder Mail attachments → Sent as links to Disk).

Since January 2013 The Yandex People file hosting service was closed. If you have an account (mail) on Yandex, now use Yandex Disk: with its help you can upload files up to 20 Gigabytes, the storage period of files is now NOT limited.

How to send a large file (up to 10 GB) using Mail.ru?

When writing a letter, you can attach up to 100 files to the letter, each of which is up to 2 GB in size. How to attach a file to a letter is described.

To send files when using Mail ru mail, you can use the Mail ru Cloud, more about the Cloud

The developers of the Mail ru project followed the same path as the Yandex developers in the sense that almost all of their users are forced to use cloud services, in particular the Mail ru Cloud.

MailRu developers write the following about large files that users attach to their letters:

When you send files larger than 25 MB, they are uploaded to the cloud and sent to the recipient as a link. Such files are marked with an icon and have a certain storage period - 30 days from the date of posting if they are more than 5 MB, and a year if they are 5 MB or less.

When you attach several files to an email, Mail calculates their weight. Some files with a total volume of up to 25 MB are attached to the letter itself - they are stored in Mail while the letter is stored. The remaining files that are not included in this limit are uploaded to the cloud, marked with an icon and received as a link. They have a limited storage period: if all files not included in the limit are up to 5 MB, they are stored for a year, more than 5 MB - 30 days.

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In modern business conditions, you need to make more and more free services in order to survive. Well, let's enjoy it for free, especially if these products are really simple and convenient.

One of the Moscow Internet providers has introduced an instant file exchange service with a capacity of no more than 50 GB. Therefore, if you are looking for a file hosting service without registration, this is a good option.

Meet: Dropmefiles.com

Unlike many other file hosting services, this service, as already written, does not require registration.
Also, from its advantages:

• File sharing up to 50 GB;
• Ability to set a download password;
• The ability to choose the type of link that will be easy to dictate orally, for example, over the phone;
• No restrictions on download speed;
• Sending a link not only by email, but also .

And now, first things first.

How to upload files?

Dropmefiles.com - how to download files

Well, if it was difficult before, it will be even easier here :). Just follow the link that was sent to us and press the button "Download".

If you don’t have a link, they didn’t give it to you, and you won’t be able to download the file.
By the way, files from the service are downloaded really quickly. It is also worth remembering that if you upload files to the site, the resource does not limit the download speed of files up to 4.5 GB in size, but the Internet provider can do this. It happens that the declared speed of 100 Mbit/s only applies to DOWNLOADING. And for output, for example, 10 or 15 Mbit/s. Then the file may not load very quickly and there is nothing you can do about it.
So: figuring out how to use dropmefiles.com is very easy. In addition, it saves time and emotions. Let's hope this service continues to be simple and free.

I can't upload files to Dropmefiles

Although I personally have never had a problem with this service, research has shown that there can be two main reasons for the failure:

• Unstable Internet connection. Please note that the service does not support file resuming mode. That is, if you are downloading a 30 GB file and the network is suddenly interrupted, it is very sad, but you will have to download the file first.
• According to reports in

WARNING!

All tests were performed for research purposes only. Test files were removed from the media, and their owners were notified of the vulnerabilities. The editors and the author are not responsible for any possible harm.

Freedom or the problem of choice?

How do people usually transfer files? For example, they attach them to a letter and wonder why it doesn’t arrive. Presenting attachments in Base64 format inflates them by one and a half times, which creates unnecessary load on the server. The mail gateway may reject a large letter because it exceeds the established size limits, consider it spam, or feed it to the antivirus. There are no guarantees that the file will be received by email, even if you have a paid account or corporate email.

A more reliable way is interactive transmission. If a file is sent directly during a conversation on Skype, Hangouts or through another similar service, then the sending process is visible to both interlocutors... but is it just them? As a rule, copies of files remain on other people’s servers for a long time and then can “pop up” at the most inopportune moment. For example, when authorizing under an existing account from another device.

A similar problem is typical for file-sharing hosting sites. You register, upload your files one by one manually or en masse through automatic synchronization, and then send public links to them to your friends. Again, technically, your digital wealth is no longer under your control after this. Even after deletion, the files are stored in the clouds for some time and are accessible to outsiders - from automatic content analysis programs (for example, to optimize personalized advertising) to Snowden's former colleagues and bored administrators.

Are we anonymous?

What are the alternatives? Things like hyperterminal, netmail or file echo are inconvenient to use today even for old-school hackers who are accustomed to having their own tool for every purpose. However, these days there is at least one online service that can be adapted to the business in a new way.

When it was necessary to transfer a file in the nineties, it was usually uploaded to the FTP server of your provider or company. When using a plugin for FAR or a specialized manager, the download process was likened to regular copying to a network drive. Buying web hosting for these purposes has now become unprofitable and dangerous. If they find anything particularly interesting, they will have to answer to the fullest extent of the law. Fortunately, there are thousands of FTP servers with anonymous authorization scattered around the world, many of which allow anyone to place their files on them. On most of them, this happens due to an oversight by the administrator, but there are also ideological Robin Hoods who take disk resources from rich lamers and distribute them to those who taught the hardware.

The Shodan shadow internet search engine will help us get the latest list of such servers. The list of anonymous FTPs is generated upon request 230 Anonymous access granted. Choose the first one you like and try to upload a file to it. If it works, share the link with a friend or check the next one. During the test, two suitable servers were found in two minutes, using a free Shodan account.

Terabytes for NAS

However, FTP is too obvious and public. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of personal network storage systems (NAS) have appeared on the Internet, the owners of which naively believe that their drives are not visible from the Internet. Sometimes all security measures are limited to keeping the device’s IP address secret, but what kind of secret is this? This is a real Easter egg, especially if the default login and password remain. It's as if people are having an open volume day and allowing their files to be written to them. Finding a network storage with a default password is also convenient through Shodan.

Here the search is a little more complicated. Each of the NAS servers has its own identifier, which is sent in the greeting line to the remote node (as well as the Shodan spider) when trying to connect to it. For example, for QNAP TS-101 Turbo Station this is NASFTPD Turbo station. A sign of a successful connection to the NAS will be the general code 220. If you enter this data into the Shodan search line, you will find an available network storage in a few minutes. From the official manual on the manufacturer's website we find out the default login and password: here it is Administrator/admin. Files are uploaded through a built-in manager with a web interface. It works in any browser that supports Java. Other models may require a Flash plugin.

The listed methods have an obvious advantage: the ownership of files is almost impossible to establish, especially if they were uploaded through Tor or foreign anonymous proxies. The disadvantages are also obvious: an unpredictable amount of free space on a network resource and a high chance that its owner can delete your file at any time. You can combat this by duplicating it to other FTP and NAS (most have unlimited traffic), but for daily use it is more convenient to use options with a greater degree of control. For example, create nodes of a distributed file sharing network yourself.

Distribute and conquer!

The advantage of this approach is that all files are stored exclusively on known devices - without artificial restrictions on volume, speed and traffic. They are not uploaded to some random server in the cloud, where they can remain in a shadow copy even after being deleted. Recently, the BitTorrent company, well known among the corsairs of the digital age, has been offering to try the simple Sync service for file exchange and synchronization.

Its essence is as beautiful as that of torrents: a common distributed data storage mechanism is used to synchronize between devices of one user and transfer selected files to other people. Files are divided into blocks and provided with a digital signature. The GetSync server does not store them, but only searches for peers like a torrent tracker. Thanks to this, it is possible to automatically resume downloading after a pause, the integrity of the data is checked and only the changed parts are always transferred. Missing fragments are requested from all online devices, from which the fastest ones are automatically selected.

After a long period of public beta, the stable version of the BitTorrent Sync client has become available for all desktop and mobile platforms. It can even be embedded into routers or NAS, ensuring that devices are available 24/7 on a peer-to-peer network.

All traffic is encrypted using the AES algorithm with a 256-bit key. The key is unique for each shared file or directory. Each key can provide either full or read-only access. This is set by the owner of the files directly in the BT Sync client before the link is sent using a simple switch. The connection itself occurs over the secure HTTPS protocol, and all synchronization parameters are transmitted directly in the body of the link. In particular, the name of the transferred file or folder is indicated after the f key, and the t key specifies the permissible number of hits on the link (by default, it can be used once). Other keys indicate the total amount of data being transferred, its cryptographic signature, and the version of the client used by the owner. The latter is required because public beta versions of the Sync client (especially before 1.0.95) worked differently and did not support some of the modern features.

BitTorrent does not limit the volume and speed of data transfer in any way, since all connections are ultimately established directly. All restrictions are determined by the capabilities of the network equipment itself and the file systems used on the devices by the sending and receiving sides (for more details, see the sidebar).

Of course, BitTorrent is far from the only company promoting the concept of a distributed file-sharing network. The Wuala network, created by the Swiss company LaCie, developed in a similar way, but since last year all activities in it have become available only through a paid subscription. BitTorrent uses a different monetization scheme: the basic functions are planned to remain free forever, and profits will be received through the sale of Plus and Pro series accounts. They have advanced functionality and, under the terms of the license agreement, can be used for commercial purposes.

Think geek!

Here's a completely crazy method of transferring data: represent an important file as a large decimal number, and then upload it in this form to a distributed computing server to check for unusual mathematical properties. While people are checking whether it is, for example, the next Mersenne number, copies of the file will be downloaded in the body of tasks to all computers of project participants. In this case, no one will even guess about the real purpose of the file. Everything will look like just another routine check.

Striving for infinity

If for some reason you still don’t like BT Sync, try another P2P service - Infinit. It also transfers files directly to the recipient and does not store them anywhere. It uses its own servers only to cache links and file fragments for the duration of the session. Of course, Infinit supports automatic downloading and integrity checking. Traffic encryption uses AES algorithms with a key length of 256 bits and RSA with a key length of 2048 bits. However, Infinit isn't doing so well when it comes to security. Unlike BT Sync, Infinit first establishes a connection using the insecure HTTP protocol.

For a long time, the service was available only through the web interface, so the client application is still somewhat crude. You can transfer an unlimited number of files to each other, but you cannot specify entire folders. For now, Infinit is only available for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android. The Linux version is still in beta, and there are no plans to release clients for embedded operating systems.

To transfer a file, you need to drag it into the small window of the Infinit client, and then specify the recipient. This can be done by his account name, email address, or simply by sending him a link like http://inft.ly/ with the following set of fixed-length characters - like the bit.ly URL shortening service.

When opened, the short link is automatically converted into a long link and redirected to the infinit.io server. It will indicate the account of the user who created the file and the same character set. Any file transfer can be accompanied by a short comment (up to one hundred characters). Cyrillic alphabet is displayed correctly.

INFO

Cloud storages with support for the WebDAV protocol can be mounted as a network drive in Explorer or through the plugin of the same name for Total Commander. It is much more convenient than the web interface.

Cloudy, no precipitation

The methods considered have not yet become popular, which adds to their attractiveness. However, sometimes you need to communicate with less advanced users and select something generally known for this. Of course, we will not review Dropbox and its analogues again. Among cloud services there are half a dozen unusual and noteworthy new products.

There are no forced pauses, no advertising or speed restrictions during the download phase. Everything is as ascetic and functional as possible. Even the original file name is used as a link. Slight discomfort appears only during downloading: you need to enter a captcha, and in the middle of the page there is an offer to try a paid account and a link to the sponsor below it. However, this is a minimal evil - the service does not use any intrusive forms of advertising. In addition, by registering, you can get a “silver” subscription plan with a 50 GB limit and a free trial period. When it runs out, you can renew it for $5 per month or find the next free equivalent.

For example, the DropMeFiles service, created by the Inetcom provider, allows you to transfer up to 50 G, without registration and forced viewing of advertisements. For its own subscribers, the company even cancels tariff restrictions when uploading and downloading files from the company’s cloud. Before downloading, restrictions are set for each file: download once, store for a week or two. Additional settings are also specified via the web form: an automatically generated password for access, accompanying text up to 450 characters long, and conversion of the link into a short alias for convenience. The link can be copied to the clipboard and sent immediately by email or SMS. An unsecured HTTP connection is used for transmission.

Another original way to transfer files up to 2 GB in size with a total volume of up to 10 GB is the WeTransfer service. You can send files directly from the web form - without registration, knowing only the recipient's email address. There are no intrusive advertising, forced pauses or artificial restrictions on the site. To avoid sharing your email, you can simply copy the generated link. It will work for a week.

Like Infinit, links are first shortened to the form http://we.tl/character set, and upon transition they are automatically converted to full versions with redirection to a secure connection via HTTPS. Before downloading a file, its size is indicated.

And a whole disc is not enough!

One of Murphy's principles states that the amount of space needed is often less than the space available. For those accustomed to living on a large scale, the 4sync.com service provides up to a terabyte of space for free, which can be filled in chunks of up to 20 GB. Of course, such happiness is provided with a limitation: only for two months during the trial period. Regular use of the service will cost a hundred dollars a year.

Uploading files is done using a client application. Versions are available for Windows, OS X and all five mobile operating systems: Android, iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. If full bidirectional synchronization is required, then a terabyte of free space for the 4Sync folder must be allocated on each device. Otherwise, the files are simply uploaded to the cloud, from where they are retrieved as needed.

By default, data transfer is performed via the insecure HTTP protocol. In the client settings, you can enable the use of SSL and set many additional parameters.

How to bypass file upload type limits

Some services check content based on format and allow you to download only files of a certain type. For example, image hosting sites only accept JPEGs and do not allow you to upload programs or documents. Files like rar.jpg have become a classic way to combat this injustice. The extension does not have to be double-specified; it can be renamed locally after downloading. The essence of the method is that an archive is added to the end of the picture. Image viewing programs analyze the file from the first bytes and simply ignore the archive block, and most archivers look for the archive header throughout the file body, ignoring the image. You can glue a snake and a hedgehog together in Windows with a simple type command and redirect the output to a file:

Type picture.jpg archive.rar > pseudoimage.jpg

Of course, the file names are arbitrary. A similar method also works with WAV, MP3 and other formats.

Sometimes, for some reason, the service does not allow you to download either archives with a password or text documents if it finds suspicious words in them or classifies them as spam based on other criteria. You can avoid verification if you place documents in an ISO image and compress them into ISZ format, and then upload them to the server in this form.

It happens that the file transfer is blocked by an antivirus on the server side, and the positive response is definitely false. You can write to the admins, but it’s easier to bypass the blocking using crypto and steganography methods: from creating a simple archive with a password to placing it in a music or graphic file.

Often required transfer large files to another person, which weigh quite a lot, several gigabytes, and even more. How to do this quickly, easily and without registration?

Typically, file hosting services are used for this purpose, for example, Yandex Disk, , or Google Drive .

Sometimes files are sent directly by mail, or via Skype. This is also an option, although you cannot send large files by mail - mail services impose restrictions on the weight of attached files.

So. in Gmail the possible weight of attached files is a maximum of 20 MB, in Yandex - 10 MB, in Mail.ru - 5 MB.

You can send large files via Skype, but both users must be on Skype during the transfer - then the transfer will proceed. If someone is missing, the transfer process is interrupted and resumes only when both users appear on Skype.

In addition, such a transfer loads computer resources and takes up a lot of Internet traffic. And if you have a weak Internet, it can slow down significantly.

And the speed of file transfer via Skype is not very high. In order for files to be transferred quickly, you need good Internet for both you and your friend who is receiving or transmitting files.

For small files this option is quite simple and convenient, but if the files are large, it is better to use . At least, you can upload a file, give another person a link, and then he can easily download it for himself, and does not depend on you and your presence on the network. And you are not attached to him.

In addition, the amount of memory that file hosting services provide is also not unlimited. Yandex Disk provides 3 GB, Google Drive provides 15 GB, but requires downloading and installing the program.

There is another option that is best suited if you do not intend to store your file on an online service for a long time, but only want to transfer it to another person, or other people.

This option is using the service DropMeFiles. To begin with, if you have not one file, but many, so as not to send a bunch of files, but make do with one archive. In addition, archiving will reduce the weight of files, which means it will speed up their uploading to the service and subsequent downloading to your computer.

Today we bring to your attention a useful compilation cheat sheet that will always and everywhere help you find the best way to transfer a large file to a person.

Email

Email is convenient, but many popular email services impose serious restrictions on the size of attachments. For example, in Gmail and Outlook, each individual file cannot exceed 25 MB in size.

You can refuse mail in favor of a more flexible solution, but if for one reason or another this cannot be done, then a simple freeware multi-platform utility will help you HJ-Split. With its help, the source file is divided into pieces of the required size and inserted/transferred in parts, after which it is just as easily glued together on the recipient’s side.

Classic web storage

If the file is generally large, then cloud storage may be the best solution: Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and their analogues. Preference for one or another service here, as a rule, is given depending on habit, but in extreme cases it is necessary to look at the maximum capabilities of each storage facility.

OneDrive allows you to upload a file with a maximum size of up to 2 GB.

"Yandex.Disk" has a limit of 10 GB, but if you need to download something heavier than 2 GB, you will need a desktop client.

Google Drive in this regard, it is much more powerful and eats up a file up to 5 TB (5,000 GB). Naturally, large files here also need to be downloaded through the client.

It is difficult to imagine a situation in which a user would not have enough Google Drive capabilities, but, just in case, Dropbox There is no designated limit on the size of one file at all. Do you have a desktop client? Go ahead, upload all the Internets of the world to it! In the last two cases, the limitation is not the file size, but the size of the personal storage.

Paranoid's Corner

Fans of increased privacy should pay attention to the freemium service WeTransfer. It does not ask for registration and allows you to transfer a file up to 2 GB in size almost anonymously directly from the browser, knowing only the recipient’s email. The file uploaded here will be stored for seven days.

Superparanoid's Corner

All the methods described above have one drawback: in order to transfer something, you need to upload this “something” somewhere. Simply put, your data will be temporarily (or forever) stored on remote servers. If this prospect does not suit you, then there remains an option called JustBeamIt, based on the peer-to-peer principle. The transferred file will not be uploaded anywhere, but will go directly from you to the recipient. The service's web shell supports Drag&Drop and is very easy to use. We drag the file, get a link (link lifespan is 10 minutes), transfer it to the recipient in any acceptable way.

Another P2P transfer method is a service called Infinite. In addition to everything that the previous tool can do, Infinit supports stopping/resuming downloads, and in the case of transferring video files, it allows you to start watching immediately after the start of the transfer.

Skype and other instant messengers

Modern and not so modern messengers cope quite successfully with file transfer. In this case, the maximum file size depends on the specific service used. For example, the most popular Skype, although slow, works on the same P2P principle and, in fact, has no limit on the size of the transferred file.

This material only covers methods associated with the use of truly popular products and services. There are many other cloud storages, FTP and dozens more more or less convenient ways to transfer a large file. If you have your own elegant and simple solution for transferring large amounts of data, share it in the comments.