SHRINK SAVE & SEND HUGE FILES
Step-by-step instructions
Afew issue ago (Issue 502, page 58) we explained how to shrink the size of videos, photos, music and more without having to compromise on quality. Sometimes, though, only the original file will do. If you want to send a photo to a friend so they can print it, for example, you’ll want to send it in its large, highestresolution form.
You can forget about emailing it though, as the file will be too large to attach. Whatsapp and similar chat apps might send it, but by the time your friend receives it the app will have shrunk your photo, lowering its quality. The solution is to use a combination of programs and online tools to send the original file exactly as it is.
Split large files into chunks
If you email a large file to a friend only to have it bounce back, it means your email provider (or your friend’s) doesn’t accept delivery of such large files. To get around this limitation you can break the large file up into bite-size chunks using the program Gsplit ( www.snipca.com/25452). Go to the website, click Download, select ‘Gsplit 3 with Installer’, then Site 1. Double-click the downloaded file and follow the set-up process to install it (you have the option to add it to your rightclick ‘context’ menu).
Open Gsplit, click Browse, click the file you want to break into chunks, then click Open. Next, click ‘Type and Size’ (on the left). Select ‘I want to set the size of all piece files’ from the dropdown menu, then type 20.00 into the size field and select MB from the second dropdown (see screenshot below). This means your file will be split into 20MB chunks which most email providers – including Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and AOL – will accept. If you look just beneath the Size field you will also see how many chunks your file will be broken into (this is how many emails you’ll need to send to your friend). Click Split (at the top of Gsplit’s window) to chop up the file.
The chunks will be saved in your Documents folder (though you can change this by clicking Destination Folder in Gsplit) and will be named disk1.gsd, disk2. gsd, disk3.gsd and so on.
You’ll also see a file called disk1.exe in the same folder – you need to send this to your friend too, because it reassembles the chunks into the original file. Send the .gsd files and the disk1.exe file in separate emails and tell your friend to transfer them all to a folder, double-click the disk1.exe file, then click Unite.
Share links to your files
Some files are so large that breaking them into chunks isn’t feasible. Another option is to upload them to an online cloud storage service (such as Google Drive, Microsoft Onedrive or Dropbox) and then send your friend a link to that file so they can download it. A free Google Drive account, for example, comes with 15GB of space and you could just use all of that to store one file. If you have a Google account (or a Gmail address) you already have a Google Drive account (if you don’t, sign up for one here: https://accounts.google.com/ Signup).
Go to www.google.com/drive, click ‘Go to Google Drive’, New (top left), File Upload, then select the file you want to send. You’ll see a progress box at the bottom right. Once it says ‘upload complete’ click Recent (on the left) and your file will be listed in the Today section. Right-click it, click ‘Get shareable link’ (see screenshot above right) and a link that anyone can use to download that file will be copied to the clipboard. To share it, paste the link into an email and send it to your friend.
Onedrive and Dropbox have similar features. In your Onedrive account
( www.onedrive.live.com) right-click the file, click Share, then ‘Get a link’. In Dropbox ( www.dropbox.com/home), move your cursor over the file you want to send, click Share, then ‘Copy link’.
Use a file-transfer service
If you’d rather not sign up to a cloud storage account, you can use free file-transfer services. The downside with these is that most flood your screen with adverts, but there are a couple that don’t – including Wetransfer ( www.wetransfer. com) and the new Firefox Send ( https:// send.firefox.com).
Wetransfer lets you send one, or multiple, file(s) up to 2GB in size. Click the ‘+’ symbol next to ‘Add your files’ (on the left), then navigate to the file you want to share, select it, then click Open. To add more, click ‘Add more files’ and repeat the process. Next, type the recipient’s email address into the ‘Email to’ field, type your email address into the ‘Your email’ box (this is only used to send you a notice of receipt once your friend downloads the file), then type a message. Click Transfer and you’ll see a progress bar that fills as your files are uploaded. Once complete, an email will be sent to the recipient with a download link. They will have a week to download the files before the link expires.
Firefox Send differs slightly in that it lets you send up to 16GB of files, but suggests you don’t use it for individual files larger than 1GB (you risk the file not transferring correctly). Click the ‘Select a file to upload’ button (see screenshot below left), then click ‘Copy to clipboard’ to copy a link that you can email to your recipient. The download link expires 24 hours after its creation (or after a single download), so your friend will have to download the files within that time.
Send large files without using the cloud
The one compromise you have to make when using Wetransfer or Firefox Send is that your files are uploaded to the companies’ servers. While there’s nothing intrinsically insecure about that – your files will be encrypted – some people might be uncomfortable with it.
To get around this you can opt to use O&O File Direct ( www.snipca. com/25467) instead. It bypasses the need to upload files to the cloud by creating a direct link only to files on your PC. All you need to do is ensure that your PC is switched on when your friend tries to download the file (otherwise your friend’s computer won’t be able to connect). Click the green Download button (on the right) to download the program, then follow the instructions to install it (we opted for a ‘Complete’ install). Next, open a File Explorer window and browse to the file you want to share, then open O&O File Direct. Drag files from File Explorer into the O&O File Direct window to share them. Once you’ve dragged a file into the window a download link will be created. Click Copy to copy it, then paste it into an email to your friend.
To change how long the file is shared for, click ‘More settings’, select a number of days or downloads (see screenshot above), then click Save. To keep track of the files you’ve shared, click the ‘Shared files’ tab. Stop sharing anything in the list by moving the cursor over it, then clicking the ‘X’ symbol.