Free File Sharing Websites

One of the cheapest item available nowadays is computer hard disk space. The size has been continuously increasing and price on the same hand is continuously decreasing. As a result, all the email providers have tremendously increased the space provided to each email id. For instance, yahoo and gmail offer as much as 1 GB of free email space per id, and earlier it used to be just 1-5 MB. So, this has been a quantum jump. However, one thing that is still limited by size is the size of attachments that you can send through email. In most of the cases, the size of attachment is limited to a maximum of 5 MB. That serves fine for small files, but is not capable of sharing videos, big presentations etc.

So, there is a problem in sharing large files. This problem is easily solved by various file sharing sites.

There are hundreds of file sharing websites available on the web. These websites allow you to upload your files of huge files. You can send a link of these files to your friends and they can download it from there. Best part is that most of these websites are free, do not require any login account, and allow files as large as 500 MB to be shared!!! . Even if the file that you want to share is more than this size, you can simply split the files into multiple files, and upload all of them as there is no restriction on number of files that you can upload. There is no registration, and no software installation required to upload or download files. I don’t think it can get any better. Apart from sharing files, these websites also allow you to backup files of your computer, so that you can access them from anywhere and recover in case you accidentally deleted file from your computer.

As I mentioned, there are hundreds of file sharing websites available, but a few of them are more popular and really easy to use. I will review in brief a few of those here.

1. Rapidshare (www.Rapidshare.de): This is the world’s biggest (over 30 million files uploaded!) and fastest (45 Gigabit/s!) 1-click file-hoster. This is Burning the net with 360 Terabytes of hard-drive capacity right now and growing!. The file upload in this is a true 1-click process. You simply open the website, browse the file you want to upload and press upload.. and hey, you are done!!.

Advantages:
a. This allows upto 300 MB of file to be uploaded using free service.
b. You get points for each download of your file, and these points can be redeemed to get the premium account on Rapidshare.
c. The files that you upload never expire.

Disadvantages:
a. If you are a free user, you can download only 1 file at a time from Rapidshare. If you are already downloading a file, you have to wait for that download to complete before staring download of another file.
b. Also, there is limit on maximum size of files that you can download as a free user. Once you reach this limit, you have to wait for some time before you can download any more files.

2. Megaupload (www.Megaupload.com): This is a very easy to use file sharing service. This allows you to upload multiple files, and you can do this without sharing any login information and is free. This is also 1-click file uploading website. It does not requires any software to be installed, and can be accessed from anywhere.

Advantages:
a. This allows upto 250 MB of file to be uploaded using free service.
b. It has a unique Uploader rewards program where it pays money and cash prizes to their uploaders.
c. There is no limit on the number/size of files that can be downloaded by free users.

Disadvantages:
a. Unlike Rapidshare, your files are not hosted eternally. Your files are deleted if they are not downloaded for 21 days at a stretch.
b. If you are a free user, you can download only 1 file at a time from Megaupload. If you are already downloading a file, you have to wait for that download to complete before staring download of another file.

3. Megashare (www.Megashare.com): This is a nice file sharing service for uploading smaller files. This is also 1-click file sharing service, and allow users to download multiple files at the same time.

Advantages:
a. This is a good site for uploading smaller files.
b. There is no limit on the number/size of files that can be downloaded by free users.
c. Unlike Rapidshare and Megaupload, free users can download multiple files at the same time from Megashare.

Disadvantages:
a. Filesize that can be uploaded is limited to a maximum of 50 MB. This looks pretty small as compared to Rapishare or Megaupload.
b. They delete files that have not been access for 30 Days. but if your file recieved at least one download every 30 days, they will keep your file.

4. TurboUpload (www.Turboupload.com): This is another nice file sharing service for uploading smaller files. But be advised that these are very particular about not hosting illegal/copyrighted content, so don’t use this service otherwise.

Advantages:
a. Good for uploading smaller files.
b. Unlike Rapidshare and Megaupload, free users can download multiple files at the same time from Turboupload.
c. There is no limit on number of files that can be downloaded by free users.

Disadvantages:
a. Filesize that can be uploaded is limited to a maximum of 70 MB. This is more than Megashare, but lesser than Rapidshare or Megaupload
b. They delete files that have not been accessed for a long period of time.

5. Uploading (www.Uploading.com): The best feature of this 1-click free file hoster is that they pay you whenever someone downloads your file. So, if you are sharing some files that you expect to have popular users and lots of downloads, you can end up earning handsome rewards.

Advantages:
a. They pay you $5 for every 1000 downloads of your files.
b. Files of upto 150 MB can be uploaded.
c. There is no limit on number of files that can be downloaded by free users.

Disadvantages:
a. Free users can download only 1 file at a time.
b. They delete the files that have not been downloaded for last 30 days.

So, whether you want to upload a smaller file or a larger file; you want files to be present eternally or just for a limited period; or even if you want to earn money from downloads, you are sure to file a suitable file sharing service from the list above. Try them out, you will be amazed with the services that they provide for free.