Over the past few years, customers have asked us to recommend a service for sharing large files. In the past I've recommended Dropbox to those sending files under 2GB. But what if you need to send a really large file, say a 50GB file? And what if you need to send that 50GB file to five people in different locations?
For the past couple of months I've been researching various services that allow you to send large files over the internet. Here are features I require in such a service:
- Must allow uploads and downloads through the popular browsers without any plugins or extensions.
- Must notify me by email that all files were uploaded successfully to the service.
- Must notify me by email when when the recipient successfully downloads the file(s).
- Must purge files off the service after no more than 30 days.
These were my non-negotiables. Under my "nice to have" features list I included the ability to brand the download portal (the portion of the website my customers see) with my company logo. It would also be great to access a history of all files I've sent along with simple download statistics.
My hope was to find a number of services that met my requirement which I could recommend to our customers at Puget Systems. But that wasn't to be, at least for now. I found a number of free services that shove ads in your face every step of the way. I hadn't felt this gross since I tried to find a Napster replacement.
I was close to recommending a service until it blasted my inbox with coupons for products I don't want. Imagine sharing a file with a business client, only to have the service SPAM them the next day. No way will I recommend such a product.
Finally, Jon Bach sent me a link to a service with a strange name: MASV. I believe he came across this company at an industry tradeshow. I was intrigued, and immediately signed up for their service. They met all my requirements, and recently added the ability to brand your portal. My initial impression was that this service was designed by professionals for professionals.
Of course, none of this matters if the service doesn't deliver the file to my customer. That's ultimately what matters.
I'm happy to report that I can recommend MASV without any hesitation.
I've already sent a number of very large files without any issues. MASV is a pay-as-you-go service which I prefer to the subscription model. You pay as you use the service. The cost is calculated by the total package (file) size (GB) by the number of recipients, and then by $0.15 USD. MASV includes a simple cost calculator on their website. For example, sending a 25GB file to four recipients would cost $15.
So far I've been impressed with MASV. Every file I've shared has made it to its destination. The notifications sent to the sender and recipient are concise without being spammy. And the pricing structure is easy to understand. It does all this while respecting the user and the recipient. My initial impressions of MASV have held true. Every part of the experience feels professional.
If you've been using sneakernet to send large files to your customers, I'd give MASV a try. They don't charge for the first 50GB. Send yourself a few files so you can get an idea of how your clients will experience the service. The only issue I've run into while using MASV is that, depending on the size of file you're sending, the upload process can take a while. One time I closed my browser tab during the upload process and had to start again.
I plan to keep researching various large file sharing options. Have you found one that works well for you? Please share in the comments.