That Technology Magazine

In my previous blog entry, I mentioned the usefulness of hosted online storage.

The topic was how you could send a self-extracting compressed file to someone else. Many email applications and servers do not like EXE (executable) files - often for good reason. As one option, I suggested uploading the compressed file to hosted online storage and then having someone else download it from there.

There are numerous specialized companies offering FREE and paid online hosting services on the web. Search for these terms and you’ll come up with hundreds of options or more.

Or, if you’re a fan of “single account and single password” (for simplicity on the plus side and possible password security risks on the downside), Google and Yahoo have storage services. Google Docs & Spreadsheets focuses on storing relatively small HTML, text (TXT), rich text (RTF), Adobe PDF, Microsoft Office, and OpenOffice files. Many folks rely on either sending their files to themselves at their Gmail account (with its nearly unlimited storage capacity) or by using one of many publicly available hacks - such as Gmail Drive - that actually turn Gmail into an online storage system. Yahoo Briefcase, which has been around for many years, provides a robust file storage system for those with a Yahoo account.

My suggestion, particularly if you have not started using any hosted online storage service, is to opt for a specialized provider such as MediaMax. I’ve used services provided by this company (formerly branded as Streamload) for over a year - mostly during my Army Reserve deployment to Iraq - and have been very impressed by their innovation and service.

For starters, you can setup a FREE account to see whether you like what they offer. For many “light” users, the FREE account offers enough capacity - 25 GB of online storage, 1 GB per month downloads, and sending files up to 25 MB in size. I previously had their lowest level pay account - “Premium” - for $4.95 a month, so that friends could download videos from Iraq. For now, I’m back to a free account… though I’m exploring some backup services that leverage MediaMax. (More on that in a future blog. I’m still evaluating the KeepVault automated backup application that utilizes MediaMax storage capacity.)

MediaMax provides all of the basic features that you would want in a storage service - secure uploads and downloads, optional password protection for individual files or directories, and easy ways to email a link to a specific file. (That last feature is great when you don’t want to fill someone’s email inbox with a gigantic file.) You can upload files via FTP. For users who want even more functionality, you can download the free MediaMax XL Beta Software. This gives you the capability to perform batch uploads and downloads, synchronize files between computers, and perform backups of selected files or folders.

2/12/07 Update: I wanted to highlight one additional feature. On the MediaMax home page is a link to “Upload files to MediaMax users.” If you give someone your MediaMax username (not your password!), they can upload large files directly into your account. Once the files are uploaded, they are password protected behind your existing username and password.

Take a look at MediaMax. Its FREE and paid versions can do more than enough heavy lifting for the typical entrepreneur or consultant.

All is well.