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May 23, 2006 For many years, we've advising clients that email is not
the proper method for any major file transfer. It's only an adequate
last resort for occasional small document transfer with the general
public. Here is a comprehensive list of alternatives:
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Suitable for General Public |
In-house/Partners-only |
- Blind Dropbox (preferred)
- Blind Pickup Counter (preferred)
- FTP
- Web host (manual upload, send links)
- File upload sites (control/privacy issues!)
- Email attachments (last resort)
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- SSL VPN File Manager
- SSFT (simple socket file transfer)
- AIM/MSN/Yahoo
- Replicate/sync programs
- Remote programs: PCA/VNC
- TS-client mapped drives
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Some of the technical issues to consider when comparing different
methods:
throttling
install client
initiate action
authentication
support UNC
support DNS
support encryption
jurisdiction
NAT address/port forward
firewall issues (perimeter and host)
direct/intermediary
progress feedback: indicator, stats, eta
non-intrusive
suitable for general public (many-many, many-one)
resume
error checking
max file size
storage quotas
transmission quota
Dropbox Advantages:
easy user interface, user doesn't need ftp
security:
no need to setup ftp account access for users
users cannot see files submitted by others
users cannot see files intended for others to download
once submitted, file cannot be deleted by users
easy admin interface, file management
note attached w/ each submitted file
upload to multiple directory
See also:
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