Online Storage
From IT Jalakam - Unofficial IT syllabus for grade 10 students
Contents |
Rapidshare
Rapidshare is one of the most popular file sharing website in the internet.
Introduction
RapidShare is a German-owned one-click hosting pay- and free-service (with certain restrictions and limitations) website that operates from Switzerland and is financed by the subscriptions of paying users. Rapidshare is one of the world's largest file-hosting sites with millions of files stored on its servers. As of July 2009, according to Alexa's three month average rating, Rapidshare.com is the 17th most visited website globally.
RapidShare has two different websites, but both sites claim to be entirely different organizations and entities.The original site is RapidShare.de, which uses the German top-level domain ".de", and the organization has its central office in Cham, Switzerland.
History
On October 20, 2006, RapidShare announced that "Unfortunately all drives of RapidShare.de are full right now". A new website, RapidShare.com was set up in an attempt to transfer usage from RapidShare.de to RapidShare.com.[citation needed] When the new Rapidshare.com was launched, holders of "Premium" accounts at the time on RapidShare.de were able to use both the RapidShare.de and RapidShare.com, until their account expired. It is not possible, however, to use a RapidShare.com account on the German site.
Operation and services
Upon uploading, the user is supplied with a unique download URL which enables anyone, with whom the uploader shares it, to download the file. No user is allowed to search the server for content; all files have to be downloaded by following a given URL.
Non-paying users are required to wait 30 to 134 seconds, depending on the filesize, before the download starts and their download-speed is limited from 25 KB/s up to 250 KB/s (depending on the server-load). In October 2008, Rapidshare extended the waiting time to 15 minutes between each download.
Registration and payment allow benefits such as unlimited download speed, download of several files simultaneously, queue skipping, the facility to interrupt and re-start downloads, uploading and downloading bigger files up to 2 GB, allowing Free Users to download their files with Premium privileges ("TrafficShare") and to store up to 500 GB of data that can not expire.
Premium accounts last for a certain number of days, with a day marked at midnight Central European Time. Thus a 30-day account opened at 23:59 CET would have 29 days to run after one minute. Every premium account is limited to a maximum of 150 GB download traffic per month, divided equally over every day of the month. If there are 30 days in a month, then the user will receive 5 GB per day. The user is allowed to "save" traffic up to a maximum of 25 GB and can then spend the saved traffic all at once.
There is now a rewards program that allows the user to trade "RapidPoints" for a selection of products depending on the amount of points the user has collected.
As of May 2009, the downloads limit has been established for Premium Members at 5 gigabyte per day. The unused volume is automatically rolled over to the following day, up to a maximum limit of 25 gigabytes. If the complete download capacity is used up during one day, the premium-user is able to download another 5 gigabytes the following day (or after midnight CET).
MediaFire
Mediafire is another online file sharing website with less limitations.
Introduction
MediaFire is a free file and image hosting web site that started in 2006 and is located in Harris County, Texas, USA. It has received much attention because it has rather few limitations for users without an account compared to many other file hosters.
Usage
The service is available for free and allows users to upload files of up to 200 MB each for free users and 10 GB for pay suscribers. The user is then supplied with a unique URL, which locates the file and enables anyone who knows it to download the file. Uploaded files will be stored as long as the user logs-in into his/her account at least once every 60 days or at least one of the files is downloaded every 30 days. Furthermore, images can be uploaded and displayed in galleries.
Major features
- Unlimited Storage
- Upload is limited to 100mb per file for free users and 10Gb for pay users.
- No signup required
- No need to enter CAPTCHAs to access files. Entering a CAPTCHA is occasionally required when downloading large numbers of files in succession.
- No enforced waiting to access files
- Storage time for uploaded files 30/60 days (unlimited storage time if you log in every 60 days)
- No limit for the number of simultaneous downloads
- No limitation of bandwidth
- Interrupted downloads can be resumed using a download manager or a web browser that supports resuming
- Ability to delete files
- No discrimination against people based on their location
Major limitations
- Uploading encrypted ZIP or RAR archives is automatically blocked for non-paying users. However, less standardized forms of encrypted files are not blocked by the site.
- No upload via FTP[8]
- No remote upload
- No resuming of interrupted uploads
- Does not allow folder download, each individual file must be downloaded separately
MediaPro
Around August 2008 new "MediaPro" accounts with extended features and fewer limitations for paying users were added. They offer the following advantages:
- Direct linking
- Maximal file size 10 GB
- Unlimited storage time
- Remote uploading
- No ads
- Redundant backups
- SSL encryption
- More statistical information
- Better support
The MediaPro accounts can be extended at additional costs to MediaPro Business accounts which allow a larger download data volume.
Windows Live SkyDrive
Skydrive is Microsoft's answer to online file sharing.
Introduction
Windows Live SkyDrive (initially Windows Live Folders) is part of Microsoft's Windows Live range of online services. SkyDrive is a file storage and sharing service that allows users to upload files to the computing cloud, then access them from a web browser. It uses Windows Live ID to control access to the user's files, allowing them to keep the files private, share with contacts, or make the files public. Publicly-shared files do not require a Windows Live ID to access.
The service currently offers 25 GB of free personal storage, with individual files limited to 50 MB.[1] Optionally, an ActiveX-based tool can be installed to allow drag-and-drop uploading from Windows Explorer. Up to five files can be uploaded each time if the tool has not been installed.
History
On its launch, Windows Live Folders (as it was then) was provided as a limited beta available to a few testers in the United States.[2] On August 1, 2007, the service was expanded to a wider audience. Shortly after, on August 9, 2007 the service was renamed Windows Live SkyDrive and made available to testers in the United Kingdom and India.[3] As of May 22, 2008, Windows Live SkyDrive is available to 62 countries and regions.[4][5]
In late 2008 the capacity of an individual SkyDrive account was upgraded from 5 GB to 25 GB.
Megaupload
Megaupload is another online file sharing website which is more into video sharing.
Introduction
Megaupload is a online company established in 2005 for the use of uploading and downloading files. It includes a video browsing section in the site megavideo.com.
Usage
The basic service is available for free and allows users to upload files of up to 2048 MB. Free users cannot download files larger than 1 GB, however. Free registered users are offered 200GB of total file storage. Premium users have unlimited file storage. After a successful file upload, the user is given a unique URL which allows others to download the file.
Any file uploaded anonymously will expire if there are no downloads for at least 21 days. For free registered accounts, the expiration period is 2 years which can be manually reset. Premium accounts have no expiration period as long as the user remains a premium member.
Users must fill a text-based CAPTCHA when downloading a file. Non-registered users await 45 seconds in the download queue and a certain amount of time between transfers after a certain amount of megabytes has been downloaded. Paying users get a premium account with a wider range of privileges.[2]
Note that even paying members do not get a direct hotlink for non-paying members to download. Non-members trying to download an uploaded file are forced to MegaUpload's site and have to wait 45 seconds to initiate a download.
Features
| Feature | Premium Member | Free Member | Non-Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downloading files from megaupload | yes | yes | yes |
| Mega Manager for uploading and downloading | yes | yes | no |
| Download speed priority | Highest | Low | Lowest |
| Maximum parallel downloads | Unlimited | 1 | 1 |
| Online storage with filemanager | Unlimited | 200 GB | None |
| Maximum upload size per file | Unlimited | 2 GB | 500 MB |
| Download limit per 24 hours | Unlimited | Limited | Very limited |
| Waiting time before each download begins | None | 25 | 56 |
| Advertising | Little | Medium | Maximum |
