Hosting Sites
A Hosting Site is a a place which offers you space to store files and create download links. Most sites give you some space for free, but you need to pay for other features or for more space. Some traders do choose to pay for premiums, but most just stick with the free stuff.
MEGA
This is the most popular host because it offers 20GB of free space, which is more than most other services.
Without paying for premium, there’s a limit to how much you can download in a day. However, you can work around this in several ways:
MEGA will delete your account's contents if it is inactive more than 3 months. It is recommended you log in to your account(s) at least once every 3 months to prevent this. (Can confirm: this happened to me T_T)
How to Make Multiple MEGA Accounts
It is recommended you keep a spreadsheet of all the extra accounts you make, and what you keep on the accounts. This way, you won't lose track of how much storage space you have, and what you have uploaded.
This is the most popular host because it offers 20GB of free space, which is more than most other services.
Without paying for premium, there’s a limit to how much you can download in a day. However, you can work around this in several ways:
- Have a dynamic internet connection. Turn off the internet, turn it back on, and refresh the page.
- Use a VPN. (Preferably one that’s not popular.) This will give you a different IP address as long as the VPN is turned on. MEGA will think it's a new computer trying to connect to it, and it'll "reset" the limit.
- Download the Opera browser at opera.com. Then enable VPN by doing the following:
- On a Mac, go to Opera > Preferences > Privacy and Security. Scroll to the VPN section and check “Enable VPN”.
- On a Windows, go to Opera > Settings > Privacy and Security. Scroll to the VPN section and check “Enable VPN”.
- ProtonVPN is a free service I've seen recommended.
MEGA will delete your account's contents if it is inactive more than 3 months. It is recommended you log in to your account(s) at least once every 3 months to prevent this. (Can confirm: this happened to me T_T)
- You can use MultCloud to log into all your cloud accounts at once, keep track of what is stored on them, and (if you pay for their service) transfer things between accounts (though you can transfer up to 30GB of data between accounts per month with a free account). There are no limits on adding cloud accounts.
How to Make Multiple MEGA Accounts
It is recommended you keep a spreadsheet of all the extra accounts you make, and what you keep on the accounts. This way, you won't lose track of how much storage space you have, and what you have uploaded.
- If you have a Gmail account, you can add +(number) to the end of it to sign up. MEGA will see it as a separate email, but Gmail won't, so it'll just send it to your normal email. You can increase the numbers continuously.
- Example: YourEmail@gmail.com -> YourEmail+1@gmail.com, YourEmail+2@gmail.com, YourEmail+3@gmail.com, etc.
- You can also use a temporary email service like 10minutemail or temp-mail to create temporary email accounts to sign up.
Google Drive
The second most popular host. It has 15GB of free storage. Their terms of service state that it has the right to look through your stuff to determine how to better advertise to you. So no real privacy there. Also, the upload/download speed could be better. It insists on zipping everything you try to download first. Like MEGA, it also allows you to import other Drive links to your account, so you don't have to download and reupload things.
The second most popular host. It has 15GB of free storage. Their terms of service state that it has the right to look through your stuff to determine how to better advertise to you. So no real privacy there. Also, the upload/download speed could be better. It insists on zipping everything you try to download first. Like MEGA, it also allows you to import other Drive links to your account, so you don't have to download and reupload things.
Mediafire
It offers 10GB for free (and 40GB more if you do annoying stuff like sharing on Twitter). With free accounts, you have to download each file one by one, and not in bulk. This can be annoying when you have 50 things to download because someone forgot to zip their audio before uploading it. You can get around this by downloading JDownloader2. Give it the link to what you’re trying to download, do a CAPTCHA or two and you’re off! JDownloader2 also works as a download manager for other hosting sites besides Mediafire as well. People mostly use Mediafire for audios only.
It offers 10GB for free (and 40GB more if you do annoying stuff like sharing on Twitter). With free accounts, you have to download each file one by one, and not in bulk. This can be annoying when you have 50 things to download because someone forgot to zip their audio before uploading it. You can get around this by downloading JDownloader2. Give it the link to what you’re trying to download, do a CAPTCHA or two and you’re off! JDownloader2 also works as a download manager for other hosting sites besides Mediafire as well. People mostly use Mediafire for audios only.
Sendspace
It has no upload limit at all, which is incredibly useful. However, it has a daily download limit of 1GB (which frustrates many traders since VOBs are usually way more than 1GB), slow downloading speed, and it deletes files after 30 days of download inactivity. People mostly use Sendspace for audios only.
It has no upload limit at all, which is incredibly useful. However, it has a daily download limit of 1GB (which frustrates many traders since VOBs are usually way more than 1GB), slow downloading speed, and it deletes files after 30 days of download inactivity. People mostly use Sendspace for audios only.
OneDrive
This host gives you 5 GB or free space, with an additional 500 MB free for referrals until 5 GB. If you have a paid Office 365 account, you can apparently also get 1TB with this host. According to wikipedia, “Data stored on OneDrive is sometimes monitored by Microsoft, and any content that is in violation of Microsoft's Code of Conduct is subject to removal and may lead to temporary or permanent shutdown of the account.”
This host gives you 5 GB or free space, with an additional 500 MB free for referrals until 5 GB. If you have a paid Office 365 account, you can apparently also get 1TB with this host. According to wikipedia, “Data stored on OneDrive is sometimes monitored by Microsoft, and any content that is in violation of Microsoft's Code of Conduct is subject to removal and may lead to temporary or permanent shutdown of the account.”
Dropbox
You’ve probably heard of this one. It only offers 2GB of free space, with an additional 500 MB for referrals until you reach 18 GB. Files expire after a year. It’s had some privacy and security issues though according to wikipedia.
You’ve probably heard of this one. It only offers 2GB of free space, with an additional 500 MB for referrals until you reach 18 GB. Files expire after a year. It’s had some privacy and security issues though according to wikipedia.
4shared
Do not use this. Just don’t. 4shared is pretty much universally hated by everyone in the community due to its numerous fake download buttons, confusing interface, ads that litter every page on the site, download limit, 60 second wait before a download, and more. The list goes on. Some traders will even refuse 4shared links. Sure, it gives you 15GB of free space, but it still sucks.
Do not use this. Just don’t. 4shared is pretty much universally hated by everyone in the community due to its numerous fake download buttons, confusing interface, ads that litter every page on the site, download limit, 60 second wait before a download, and more. The list goes on. Some traders will even refuse 4shared links. Sure, it gives you 15GB of free space, but it still sucks.
Yandex Disk
Common with some foreign traders. It offers 10GB+ of free space. It’s available in multiple languages including English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Turkish.
Common with some foreign traders. It offers 10GB+ of free space. It’s available in multiple languages including English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Turkish.
