# How do I transfer a large file? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882 "2005-11-20T04:43:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/1 "2005-11-20T04:43:30Z")
I have this large (150 M) file I need to transfer over the internet. Email won’t do. Is there such a thing as “File Bucket” websites where I could upload it and the other party download it? ---
**Author:** ![Ficer67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Ficer67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ficer67)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/2 "2005-11-20T04:49:03Z")
I have used Microsoft Instant messenger with wonderful results. I had to transfer 5 gb of files from a friends computer to mine, for backup purposes. It took most of the night, but it worked perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/3 "2005-11-20T04:53:01Z")
If you’re just sending it to one other person, any Instant Messaging client should be able to do that, as long as you and the recipient are both using it. (While it is possible to upload it to a website first, it’s hard to find a non-annoying free webhost. ) ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/4 "2005-11-20T04:54:40Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > I have this large (150 M) file I need to transfer over the internet. Email won’t do. Is there such a thing as “File Bucket” websites where I could upload it and the other party download it? E-mail might not work anyway, since you never know what the restrictions will be on any particular server in the path from you to your destination. Just offhand, I’d say the most simple way to get a free public website is to create yourself a Yahoo! Groups site, add your friend as the only member, upload the file and then delete the site once you’re finished with it. An added advantage is that you can make it invisible to everyone else. Your file will be reasonably secure. AFAIK, HTTP is an error-checking protocol, which means you’ll at least get notification if the transfer doesn’t work. Many people don’t know this, but FTP is **not** error-checking! :smack: This means you can “successfully” transfer with FTP only to find that the file is corrupted. To cover my butt for corruption and so forth, I usually zip up files first. WINZIP zip has CRC, and I would guess that gzip does too. The latest WINZIP also has encryption, although that may not work in the shareware version. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/5 "2005-11-20T05:59:41Z")
This is a perfect job for a peer-to-peer network like Limewire. Just pout the file/s in zip form, with a password so no-one else can make use of it, and give the zip file a very unusual name (like a string of letters and numbers). Then, tell your friend what filename to look for on the network, and s/he can then download the file. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/6 "2005-11-20T06:01:01Z")
Try this one. > **[Secure file sharing & creative collaboration | Hightail](https://www.hightail.com/)** > > Simple and secure file sharing with Hightail. Send large files, preview visual assets, collect precise feedback and keep creative projects moving in one easy and secure cloud-based software. Try Hightail for free. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/7 "2005-11-20T18:31:21Z")
If one or both of you is using a Mac or other Unix system, you could FTP or scp it directly (this is also possible with Windows boxes, but one would have to specificially go get programs to do it with, and set them up yourself). ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/8 "2005-11-20T19:33:11Z")
[[http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/](http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/)] I used this to mail dirty movies to my friends.This system will disassemble a file into smaller portions so you can mail it. The sendee reassembles the file using their copy of h-j split ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/9 "2005-11-20T19:36:01Z")
> [@priapus](#): > > [[http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/](http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/)] > I used this to mail dirty movies to my friends.This system will disassemble a file into smaller portions so you can mail it. The sendee reassembles the file using their copy of h-j split Sorry.you have to go down the page to h/j split ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-transfer-a-large-file/331882/10 "2005-11-20T20:57:15Z")
> [@Cugel](#): > > Try this one. > [http://www.yousendit.com/](http://www.yousendit.com/) I’ve used that and also [http://www.sendthisfile.com/](http://www.sendthisfile.com/) . Yousendit seems to be quicker than sendthisfile, but less reliable. Sometimes it just craps out on the upload. This never happens with sendthisfile, but the upload is slower.