transferring a big file to a friend

[excalibur313]

I want to transfer some large photoshop files (about 500mb) to a friend over the internet. What is the best way to do this because uploading it to a site for my friend to download probably won't work because it is so large. I would really like something like ftp, file transfer used within the same network, or something that won't crap out or take ages (like aim). What do you guys suggest? (My friend is on a mac for what it is worth and we both have very fast connections.)

[gallagb]

https://www.foldershare.com/

that's what i use
it's free & easy
a bit slow- but easy easy easy

[mox358]

The fastest way is probably to burn a cd and mail it. :cool:

BUT, if you mean trying to do it online I would probably use the FTP server built into OS X and see if you could have him log on and download it or upload it to him. Let the more tech-saavy of the two of you setup the FTP server and then have the other one connect and get/send.

You need the BSD stuff installed to do this, but you can connect from the Finder so you won't need to get any additional software.

That's my 2¢.

P.S. - by the way, that first line was sarcasm... but maybe true if your broadband is as reliable as mine.

[Porco]

Haven't tried this myself but I remembered seeing this page, suggesting iChat...

http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/hugeattachments.html

dunno if that would count as AIM...

[doowrehs]

Just activate personal web sharing under 'Sharing' in System Preferences, then put the file you want to share in your home directory's 'Sites' folder. Your friend can then download it via his browser.

[Steven1621]

Just activate personal web sharing under 'Sharing' in System Preferences, then put the file you want to share in your home directory's 'Sites' folder. Your friend can then download it via his browser.

yeah this is definitely the best way. insanely easy. i do it all the time.

[oblomow]

If you're a techie like me, you can enable remote access on the target machine and use scp to copy the files. ( scp is the file copy mechanism of SSH). syntax:
scp filename username@remotemachine:targetdirectory

[Laser]

Just activate personal web sharing under 'Sharing' in System Preferences, then put the file you want to share in your home directory's 'Sites' folder. Your friend can then download it via his browser.

What address would one point their browser to?

[gauchogolfer]

What address would one point their browser to?

When you activate file sharing like this it tells you what address to use. Easy.

[wmmk]

Just activate personal web sharing under 'Sharing' in System Preferences, then put the file you want to share in your home directory's 'Sites' folder. Your friend can then download it via his browser.
to do this, you also must forward port 80 on your router and set up dns.

[wmmk]

When you activate file sharing like this it tells you what address to use. Easy.
yes, but that is a local network address. again, you need to forward port 80 and use dns to get a real address on the www.

[gauchogolfer]

yes, but that is a local network address. again, you need to forward port 80 and use dns to get a real address on the www.

Ahh, good point. I've only used it on local networks at work, so I've not needed this step. Thanks for the correction.

[Killyp]

If 'forward port 80' frightens the **** out of you, then go here:

http://www.portforward.com/routers.htm

;)

[slackersonly]

iDisk for .Mac subscribers.
gDisk for others.

[excalibur313]

Thanks for all of the help! So port forwarding can only be used if I have control of the router that I'm connecting with? I'm currently on a college campus so doing that isn't really an option...it's too bad I can't set up the computer itself to port forward.

[m-dogg]

I've been using Pando for this type of thing lately. It's free, works with Mac & Windows, but has a 1GB per transfer limit.