By Andrew Couts
Digital Trends
Last year, file-sharing giant MegaUpload was dead,
following an international criminal sting spearheaded by the US
Department of Justice. Prior to its closure, the site boasted 50 million
users a day, and accounted for four percent of all Internet traffic,
according to the DoJ. That means a lot of you out there are looking for a
new way to store and share your files. Here, a quick list of 15 sites
that will fill the gaping hole in your life left by MegaUpload’s abrupt
departure. Just don’t blame us if the feds seize one of these next.
•
RapidShare: The most like MegaUpload of the bunch,
RapidShare lets users upload files of unlimited size, and share them via an emailable, tweetable, Facebookable link. There is also no
storage limit, but files are automatically deleted after a certain period of time. Users who want to utilize RapidShare as a
cloud storage
service can upgrade to RapidPro for about $39 (29.9 Euro — RapidShare
is based in Switzerland) for 150 days, or about $130 for two years.
•
MediaFire:
A stripped-down version of RapidShare, MediaFire also lets users upload
any type of file, with a max upload size of 2GB for free users. There
is no storage limit, but also like RapidShare, your files will be
deleted after certain period of time. Users can upgrade to a Pro account
for $9 a month, which also ups max file size to 4GB. Files are shared
via a link.
•
Dropbox: A popular, robust cloud storage service,
Dropbox
gives users 2GB of storage for free, and lets users share files with
anyone via their public folder, or other Dropbox users through email
invitation. Users can upgrade to 50GB for $10 a month, or 100GB for $20 a
month.
•
Box:
Like Dropbox, Box is primarily a cloud storage service, as opposed to a
straight file-sharing service. Users get 5GB for free, and can share
via a direct link to a file, or can invite users to view the contents of
an entire folder by email. Free users can only upload files 25MB or
smaller. Paid users can up their upload limit to 1GB-per-file for $10 a
month, which also expands storage to 25GB, or $20 for 50GB.
•
YouSendIt: One of the original file-sharing services, YouSendIt offers 2GB of
free storage,
with a per-file upload limit of 50MB. (Free users also have to deal
with ads.) Files can then be shared via email, but only five per month
for free users. Up your storage to 5GB for $10 a month (or $50 per
year), and you also get a maximum file size of 2GB, and 10 shares.
Unlimited storage and unlimited shares (but the same max file size) is
also available for $15 a month, or $150 a year.
•
Minus:
One of the easiest options available, Minus lets users who sign up for
an account simply drag and drop any file (up to 2GB) to upload, and
gives users up to 50GB of free storage. Uploaded files can be shared via
an automatically-generated link. It’s that simple.
•
Amazon Cloud Drive:
Like a no-frills version of Dropbox or Box, Amazon’s Cloud Drive gives
5GB of storage space for free, and can be upgraded to 20GB, up to
1,000GB, for about $1 a gigabyte, per year. (Making it by far one of the
least expensive options.) Max file size is 2GB. The biggest downside:
No files sharing allowed (unless you give someone your Amazon password,
of course).
•
Microsoft SkyDrive:
Completely free, SkyDrive gives users 25GB of free storage, and the
ability to share files with others via email. Unfortunately, users can
only upload files up to 50GB. Also, you have to have a Hotmail (or other
MSN) address. Lame!
•
SugarSync:
Nearly identical to Dropbox and Box (for most intents and purposes),
SugarSync gives away 5GB of storage for free, and offers paid plans that
range from $5 per month (30GB) to $25 per month (250GB). Free accounts
are limited to 25GB
file uploads, or 1GB, if you are a paid user. Files can be shared via link, or by inviting users to join a folder.
•
Oron:
Super stripped-down, Oron lets free users upload files up to 400MB, up
to five files at a time. Uploaded files, which can be shared via link,
are only kept for a short period of time, and upload speed is slow, for
free users who don’t create an account. Registered users can get upload
files up to 1GB in size, and have 250GB of storage. Premium accounts
(which cost 10 Euros to 75 Euros, depending on how long you want the
account) allow file uploads up to 2GB, with unlimited storage and much
faster upload speeds.
•
Deposit Files:
Similar to Oron, but max upload size jumps to 2GB for all users. Files
are also not deleted, like they are with other services. Gold members
get a number of perks, including faster download speeds. Prices for Gold
accounts range from $12 for one month, to $75 for a year. No sign-up
necessary for free users. Files are shared through a link.
•
FilePost:
Remember all the stuff we just said about Deposit Files? File Post is
that, but with a max upload size of 5GB for paid users. Everything else
is basically the same.
•
FileSonic:
A bit more polished and robust than either Oron or Deposit Files,
FileSonic offers free users 30 days of storage time, and maximum uploads
of up to 1GB. For $9 a month, users receive unlimited storage,
unlimited storage time, maximum download speeds and max file uploads of
up to 5GB. And yes, files are shared via link.
•
WUpload:
WUpload sells itself as a “100 percent safe and anonymous” file-sharing
site, that gives free users a maximum upload size of 2GB. But free
comes at a price: no simultaneous downloads, and a mandatory delay
before download can begin. Free users storage space is also limited to
750GB. Premium users can erase all the negatives, and up their max file
upload to 10GB.
