Home Office: Move Big Files Without Breaking a Sweat

We've been sending files to each other via e-mail for so long, it's become second nature. That's fine for files that can fit on a floppy, but what about those mondo 5MB PowerPoint presentations, or humongous 40MB video files? I've come up with five nifty ways--most free, and the rest dirt cheap--to give these files wings.

Outlook Express 6 has a cool file-transfer feature. The program will effortlessly--and automatically--break a large file attachment into chunks and send each part in a separate e-mail message. The file is reassembled--again automatically--in the recipient's in-box. The catch? Both ends must use Outlook Express or another e-mail client that supports multipart messages--otherwise the person on the receiving end gets files containing gobbledygook. So it's best to use this feature to send large attachments only to known OE users. Click Tools, Accounts and choose your e-mail account. Select Mail, Properties, Advanced, check Break apart messages larger than, and enter 1000 into the KB field. Outlook Express will then break apart any attachment over 1MB.

But this is computing, folks, so sometimes the magic doesn't work. When it fails, simply highlight all the messages in your in-box that contain parts of the file, then select Messages, Combine and Decode. Reorder the messages if necessary, then click OK. The reassembled file will open; save it by choosing File, Save As. Nice, eh?

Another option is Yahoo's Briefcase online service, a handy, free way to move and store up to 30MB of data. Just upload files into your briefcase, then use the service to send your buddy or coworker an e-mail message with a link to the file. I have multiple briefcases, some private, some available to others. It's a great service, provided you can deal with Yahoo's confusing registration and its intrusive, blaring ads. One other caveat: No single file can be larger than 5MB.

Up, Upload, and Away

Alternatively, you can make large files accessible by uploading them to a Web site. Finding a Web site for file storage is a snap. If your ISP doesn't offer free Web storage, check out the 100 Best Free Web Space Providers site. To upload files to my storage site, I use the free FTP Explorer program. Once the files are uploaded, all I need to do is send the recipients a link to them.

Many people use instant messengers from AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and my favorite, Cerulean Studios' Trillian.cc site, to transfer files of virtually unlimited size with just a few keystrokes. If you lose the connection in mid-transfer, though, you must start again from scratch. And if you have a router with a built-in firewall, all bets are off--unless you have a computer-savvy friend (no, not me) to help you navigate the tricky firewall exception settings.

Pay a Little, Store a Lot

If you transfer lots of files--and you need plenty of space to store them--use a fee-based file-holding Web site. Their methods vary, but most of these services let you send an e-mail message containing a link for file retrieval. The catch is that pesky fee, though many sites do give you a free trial. I like MagicVortex . The service provides a free 30-day, 30MB trial, and it has eight plans to choose from--including a one-day, 50MB account for $4. Another site, Xdrive.com, has a free 15-day trial and offers 75MB of storage for $5 per month.

But there's an even better deal to be had. Znail.com provides up to 5MB of free storage; a buck a year gets you 20MB, and 50MB costs only $10 a year. To share data, you tell recipients your user name and password. The site has some download restrictions, but they're not onerous: You can download only twice the amount of your Znail 'disk' per day, and only five times your disk's amount per week.

Before I tried these services I never would've imagined that file management could be such a moving experience.