File Sharing among a small group

June 26, 2005 5:38 PM

I'm trying to work out the best way to keep some files online and accessible by 4 people.

Basically I am part of a for-fun group project with some friends, who are all less technically inclined than I am. We co-ordinate via a yahoo groups mailing list, but their groups file system is next to unusable. I've been using the yahoo breifcase, but that interface kind of sucks, too. The largest file is about 1,000kb. I'd just use FTP, but my server is a touch unreliable, and I'm not sure my partners could handle having to use an FTP program. YouSendIt and the like seem to be aimed at one-week turnarounds. What we do involves wild activity for a month about three times a year. Are there any good ways to host files online that would not the a pain for me to upload to or too diffucult for them to access?

posted by Karmakaze to computers & internet (11 comments total)

You could create one GMail account for all four of you.
posted by ootsocsid at 5:47 PM on June 26, 2005

I was going to say GMail too. It's what I use for things like that.
posted by librarina at 5:50 PM on June 26, 2005

GMail would require the other folks to be able to figure out how to use it. It seems to me that the "Gmail hard drive" requires some hacks, and I don't think they'd be willing/able to set that part of it up.
posted by Karmakaze at 6:09 PM on June 26, 2005

I had never heard of the GMail hard drive before! Fascinating.
I meant I just send attachments to myself.
posted by librarina at 6:51 PM on June 26, 2005

If you do decide to go down the FTP route, Tango Dropbox makes ftp-ing files about as simple as it's possible to get. Just drop them onto the big colourful icon on your desktop.
posted by blag at 6:52 PM on June 26, 2005

WebDAV is *designed* for this sort of thing. Look into it. Many hosting providers have special webdav sections. OSX and Win 98+ have support out of the box.

Apples iDisk is a WebDAV share, for instance.

I've implemented it for the administrators of a nursery school. They would rank among the greenest of netizens and they took to it like a fish to water.
posted by unixrat at 7:08 PM on June 26, 2005

Actually, that GMail Drive shell extension is extremely easy to use. Install and drag'n'drop.
posted by glibhamdreck at 7:53 PM on June 26, 2005

Wow! GMail Drive rocks! Thanks, glibhamdreck!
posted by randomstriker at 10:17 PM on June 26, 2005

is the GMail Drive available for OS X 10.4?
posted by cahlers at 6:30 AM on June 27, 2005

For OS X keep an eye out on gmailtools for announcements.

Although if you aren't scared of Applescript, you can make your own Gmail drive for OSX using these tips.

The Windows version rocks, highly recommended.
posted by jeremias at 7:08 AM on June 27, 2005

sadly, I cannot install the gmail drive shell extension - I lack admin privileges at work...
posted by Karmakaze at 2:40 PM on June 27, 2005