How do I upload huge files across the internet without using P2P?

Question

I work remotely and have 44GB of media files that I need to send back to my office. There are lots of free services out there that can handle up to 2GB, but I haven't seen talk of anything larger.

We both have 50mbps+ connections, so I would rather not mail physical media (though, that is an option). Bittorrent is blocked at my corporate headquarters. We have an FTP server, but the per-user cap is 10GB. I use Citrix, but throughput is throttled to 3mbps. (44gb @ 50mbps = 4 to 5 hours... @3mbps = 5 or 6 days.)

Any suggestions appreciated.

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Windows 7 and Windows 2003 Server are the OSes Involved I have tried JetBytes and it is blocked by our content filter

Answer 1

Perhaps you could run an FTP server on your machine and have somebody there FTP into you where no size limits are in place. For your windows setup, Filezilla is a server that should get the job done. If you are behind a router or firewall you may need to forward port 21 or whatever port you decide to your machine.

Answer 2

Talk to IT at the office. You've got a legitimate business need (I'm assuming -- if this is your MP3 collection you're on your own ;-) ), they should be willing to work with you on a viable solution. Maybe that will be raising your FTP limit, setting you up with SSH access, or something completely different.

Answer 3

in case this is on Linux, this is very easy:

Use rsync over SSH in a screen session to move the files:

rsync -aPvzl media/ my.home.ip:destination_folder

Start this in a screen session, so you can attach to it while at home.

Answer 4

Possibly use a file splitter and joiner.

Split it into smaller chunks and use the free services, then piece it together.

Personally I would just physically mail it.

Answer 5

Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway. [Andrew S. Tanenbaum Computer Networks, 4th ed., p. 91]

FedEx that data. It is hard these days to keep our minds open to the idea that the internet is not the ONLY way to transmit information.

Answer 6

If you're only sending to one person, bittorrent is inefficient and slow for this. Sadly, the easiest option might be if you can set up a web server at your end so you can download it via http.

Answer 7

Split into 9.5GB chunks and dump onto the FTP.

In linux:

split -b 10200547328 [filename] [filename]-chunk

In Windows: No idea – probably WinZIP / WinRAR can do it, with compression off (for speed) and set span archive number = 5.

Answer 8

I assume that the 44GB is already compressed with RAR, as your question states.

Your 44gb @ 50mbps = 4 to 5 hours. means that you'll leave your office without usefull internet for 5 hours, since you'll use all their bandwidth, and I'm not sure that is correct.

And double check if the link is really that speed, 'cause it might be assymetric: you can download 55Mbps, but not upload. So your 5 MBps could be even slower.

If I were you, I'd go to any local store and buy 3 or 4 flash drives, each of 16 GB. Use any zip tool you like (I recomend 7Zip) and compress the data splitted in those flash drives, and be happy. I'd change the .RAR to .7zip compression, depending on the data it compresses better.

Answer 9

Burn it to BlueRay disk and mail it.... Seriously I ran into this one time and setup an HTTP port 80 service using php that chunked out the file into small parts and sent them this way. maybe you can find something that does this same thing.

Answer 10

If your employer doesn't have more fine grained QoS tools they might not be able to relax the 3mbps during the day without it causing problems for the rest of the office.

A few years ago when a new MSDN downloader outsmarted my employers bandwidth shaper a handful of subscribers doing concurrent downloads left performance painfully slow for the other 800ish users of the connection. You might have to do your bulk upload late at night when no one else is using the connection.

Answer 11

The easiest non free option may be Aspera.

http://asperasoft.com/en/products/client_software_2/aspera_point_to_point_7

With this software you can max both 50mbit connections. I use to transfer 50gb/day over 45mbit connections and it would take a few hours.

Answer 12

I think you're going to have to speak to the sysadmin.

Obviously the sysadmins there control the network heavily, and they may not want you pushing the rules. If download is limited to 3Mbps, check the upload speeds; they may be much slower. Your transfer might take several days if you stick to network policies.

I assume that the file you want to transfer is a large video file or other data which can't be compressed without degrading quality, otherwise compression would be your best friend here.

Assuming you actually had 5Mbps upload ability (which is probably not the case), 44GB transfer at 5Mbps, divided by 8 bits, which is about 0.625 MByte per sec. Times 3600 seconds (one hour) that could transfer at most 2286MB. After 20 hours, 45720MBytes, or about 45Gbytes would have uploaded.
Assume some 10% speed loss, and that would be about 22 hours (if everything works smoothly and nonstop) and you monopolize the network for that much time, so you probably need to use a decent file transfer software.

You could split it to 10 DVDs, then ship by Fedex or UPS, but that might take about the same time.

Since the other side has 50Mbps download, they can download much faster, but that wouldn't matter much.

Another option might be Adrive.com will allow 50GB backups for free, and allow you to share it.

If network policy allowed access to www.megaupload.com (which I doubt) you could sign up and upload it all at once. Free account, but you will need to split the thing into some 50 small pieces, use the megaupload file manager, and upload them all there.

Answer 13

If you are running windows then yintersync could be a solution for you. It uses rsync as its backend but adds lots of extra functionality such as scheduling and sync on connect. It also sends an email report so you know if it has worked ok.

I currently use it to sync 1.6TB of VHD files over the internet without problems.

Answer 14

For files larger than 2GB, consider using http://www.filehosting.org/. It's the only service out there that I found that advertises no file size limit. You'll get ads no end, but it gets the work done.

See also http://www.bestcovery.com/best-free-file-hosting-services for a list of free file hosting services.

Answer 15

I suggest HFS (http://www.rejetto.com/hfs/).

From website:

Description You can use HFS (HTTP File Server) to send and receive files. It's different from classic file sharing because it uses web technology to be more compatible with today's Internet.

It also differs from classic web servers because it's very easy to use and runs "right out-of-the box".

Access your remote files, over the network.

In other words from the client you can upload a file, to the server running hfs, using a simple browser.

You can split with 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org)

Answer 16

How about sending it via Instant Messenger to one colleague you trust, e.g. via Skype?

Answer 17

If either of the machines can accept incoming SSH connections, you can try SCP. If worst comes to worst, you could just use netcat (windows version at http://joncraton.org/blog/46) and see if you can find a non-filtered port.

Answer 18

Try using something like http://justbeamit.com/ - drag your file into the browser, give your friend the URL and then it negotiates the transfer.

I strongly recommend you encrypt first if it's something you don't want third parties having.

Answer 19

Bittorrent is blocked at my corporate headquarters.

if office have at least one open to Net port, you can try start local tracker on this port with encrypting traffic and create torrent with your single tracker in list. I don't think admins use the signature analyzer on border to block bt-traffic

80G HDD by snail mail still is more easy and robust way

Answer 20

Use bittorrent. uTorrent has an option to send large files.

Good luck.