Announcing FileShift - Simplified Large File Delivery

August 31, 2018

Transferring a 40GB file isn't easy. 25MB is the de-facto upper limit for email. Larger than that and most organizations start looking toward online file-storage services. Those, however, also have their drawbacks.

We often have the need to send large files, and always run into a few headaches when using one of our various file-storage services:

1. Forgetting to remove sharing rights - After sharing a file, we may not always want someone to have access to it forever.
   
2. Forgetting to remove the file - If we upload a file just to share, we sometimes get side tracked and forget to delete it.
3. Running out of storage - Large files take up a lot of space, and we don't always need them there for a long time
4. Blocked domains - Sometimes, the organization we are sending the file to will block various file sharing services, negating the whole process.

With Fileshift, we set out to solve these problems for ourselves. So, how did we address each of these?

Sharing Rights

Instead of forcing a login, we take generate random links for your files and allow you to share the link with anyone. You can then track how many times your file has been downloaded, or even password protect your files one our advanced plan.

File Removal

Any file you upload to FileShift has a maximum lifetime of 7 days. After 7 days, your file links stop working and we purge your file from our data center. You never have to worry about cleanup or accidentally sending an old file, as we ensure that all of your files are no more than a week old.

Storage Limits

Since your files are deleted after 7 days, we have no need to implement any sort of storage limits on our system. Even uploading a bunch of large files only uses a lot of storage for a week at a time. We hate trying to clean up one of our file-storage systems to make room for a new file, so why not make it unlimited?

Blocked Domains

It happens - Someone abuses a service so the IT team at an organization takes the approach of blocking an entire domain. With FileShift, we regularly add alternate domains. We're launching with 10 alternates. If fileshift.io gets blocked, you can 'randomize' your link to get a link at a new domain that will deliver your file.

We've been delivering files with FileShift for two months now, and today we're happy to make it publicly available. We even offer a 7 day free trial!