gizmodo.com: You’ve got a huge file to send to someone else—what’s the best way of going about it? Your cloud storage service of choice might well offer a robust file-sharing option, and the maximum attachment size limit on your email client might be higher than you think, but there are also a growing number of simple, one-stop file-sharing tools that make this boring-but-important task a breeze.
4 comments:
I ran into this problem just the other day when I was trying to download a large file (about 3 GB) from my mom's dropbox account. It was a nightmare trying to figure out how to transfer the file. We finally figured it out and I downloaded the file, however, I could not save the file to my own dropbox account because I had a 2 GB limit, which the large file definitely exceeded. Though it worked out in the end, I am still miffed that there isn't a better way to do this for free with no limits. I also hate getting another account with an online service, because it just means its another password that I have to remember but ultimately forget. I know AirDrop is a thing with Macs, but unfortunately, not everyone is a Mac user, so using online services such as DropBox or GoogleDrive is the next best solution. Hopefully, with the unlimited storage capability in GoogleDrive thanks to my CMU account, I won't run into this problem again. The article does also mention Firefox or Snap, however both seem a little sketchy to me, especially with Snap, as they do not have a way to protect the files that are being transferred. I would very much like my data to stay private on my computer and only be shared with the people I want.
I think this is a really informative article, and I’m actually really glad that things like this get posted on the PTM blog because though they aren’t directly “theatre” related, they very much are able to be used by the workers in the industry. I’ve heard of google drive and one drive before, but wasn’t aware of dropbox until being here (which seems crazy to me now because everyone seems to use it). I never used to use these cloud storage options, because my dad doesn’t trust them and encouraged me away from them, but in high school as I started to work with large files, I had to give in and use the programs. As much as I’m not a “digital” savvy person, I will admit that these file saving and sharing options are really convenient. However, I do think that issues continue to arise with the application of them, because not everyone uses them. This past April, I was sending massive powerpoint files to my art teacher for our final, and because she doesn’t use the online apps (and insisted on email), she had me compress my file significantly and it reduced the quality of the images. Something I wonder is if these apps will ever be universally used by those who need them.
What a lot of fun ways to share files. I personally have always gone the cloud storage route. Sometimes I have to send large pdfs of scores to friends, and they just do not fit into an email attachment. I have to upload to my google drive, and then share the link that way. I have not found a better way, to be honest. Like others above me, DropBox just does not work because of the storage limit already in place. 2GB just does not seem like enough nowadays! One place I worked at did use Box, which was pretty good and I was surprised when I came to Carnegie Mellon that we used it here as well. I have not personally tried any of the other services listed in the article. Not to say I would not use them, but I feel pretty comfortable with the workarounds I have been using already.
I’m not sure this article changed my mind about the way I share files, but it was cool to see some other alternatives to google drive. The article didn’t mention zipping files to make them smaller. I’d never heard of the Firefox transfer service, which is pretty cool, but I still mostly keep my files in google drive. There are also specific services for things like ever-changing CAD files. GrabCAD is actually pretty cool because it stores all the components and knows how to access the pieces. E-mail is certainly a very straightforward way of doing it (up to 25 MB) and there's nothing like pulling out a flashdrive to do it, but that’s not always an option. Smash also sounds ideal because you don’t need to be signed up as a user to partake in the service. I would just be wary of using third-party services if the files are in any way private.
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