Hey guys,

I've searched for a similar topic here but don't seem to find one.
As the title says, what is your preffered filehoster?
Also mention whether you're an uploader / downloader or both please

I personally started with rapidshare a few years back. Then changed to hotfile due to it's increasing popularity but with the lawsuits and deleted files I changed to fileserve.
I was pleased with fileserve up to the point when problems arose i.e. some of their servers being unreachable for many weeks.
To be honest, I'm getting fed up with fileserve. If a big hoster like them can't get their sh*t straight, then they're not worth being what they are. That's my opinion
Every hoster experience some problems sooner or later but they should fix it within days not weeks or months.
I'm seriously considering using filesonic in the future.

What are your opinions?

btw: I'm a downloader myself, not uploader.

I'm a free downloader. You won't find many uploaders on jD's site.

I've experienced that the hosts I download from depend on the media I want to download. These media depend on the websites where I find these media. I also tend to prefer sites that provide mirror links for the same files.

I try to use my available bandwidth by downloading simultaneously from several hosts.

I never look at speed although I know that some sites are slower than others. In your case I can tell you that based on my experience fileserve is faster than filesonic. Fileserve has problematic servers and an unreliable link checker for many months now and they aren't able to solve the problem.

If you are a free loader like me, then you might prefer hosts that haven't captchas. See "hosts without annoying captchas".

If you are a free loader and your connection or computer configuration are unreliable, then I would prefer hosts that allow resumable links. Hosts that allow downloading big files allow resuming, otherwise you won't be able to interrupt the downloading. See "resumable hosts".

Also see "Comparison of file hosting services" ("http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_hosting_services") before the article is deleted, but its focus clearly is uploaders.

Thank you remi for your post
I will take a look at the links you provided.

I do have a reliable connection/PC so that's not a problem for me

As for filesonic, personally I have very little experience with them but from the few links I downloaded as a freeloader I remember they are slower then fileserve for example.
On the other hand, I think they're making much progress and more and more people are chaning to filesonic. I've been reading on other websites/forums that filesonic is good (or at least getting better) but I think this applies mostly to uploaders because of the payouts to all countries.

Looking forward to hear other's experience with specific hosts.

I'm considering uploading some files for a forum in my language. Not sure though but that's why I'd like to hear uploader's experience as well


EDIT: just came accross Bitshare.com, what's your experience?
I'm reading some good things about them!

EDIT2: I'm actually finding more and more promising hosts...
Bitshare.com
Freakshare.com
...

Currently with Fileserve and Hotfile as a downloader. If I'm honest I don't really care for either, although Hotfile was much better than Fileserve before it got owned. Fileserve has a lot of problems for UK users, slow speeds, downloads failing, stopping and starting and much more. I got really good deals on both but looking back I still regret paying for such long subscriptions. Before Hotfile and Fileserve I was with Rapidshare and they was the best by a huge margin. The Rapidshare era was the best by far, you could find absolutely anything, these days you have 1 or 2 hosts for porn (Oron and Filesonic) and a few big hosts for everything else (Fileserve, Megaupload and Filesonic). I guess Filesonic is probably the best for overall content ATM, but I have no idea what the service is like.

[drbits]

I usually search for the files I am interested in and collect the links to those files. It often does not matter what host I want. I used to use "katzforum.com" as a link source (they are now dead).

Over time, I have downloaded from around 30 different sites (all as a free-loader). I have recently been downloading from RapidShare (I have a lot of older un-downloaded links), HotFile, MegaUpload, MegaShares, FileServe, FileSonic (slow), and DuckLoad (slow). I also like MediaFire, but not many people seem to post there.

For information about searching for links, please read Finding Files, Links, and Mirrors in the Self Help Index.

Here is a sample Google search string I used recently:

intitle:"csi miami" season or complete (rapidshare or megaupload or hotfile or "x7.to" or "uploading.com" or depositfiles or freakshare or mediafire or "easy share" or megashare or filesonic or filefolder or ugotfile or letitbit or bigandfree or filefactory or shragle) -torrent

The part in parentheses is the list of hosts to search for (I have several lists). I use (intitle:". . .") to find a file or show name. If it is a television show, I add an indication of the episodes I am searching for. If you use s##e##, Google will fine various other versions of the episode (s04e12 also matches s04x12, 4x12, 412, and others).

I'm sorry for you that that forum is dead now.

@MrHuk

If you want to know more about filesonic, then I can tell you that they're suffering from growth pains. Filserve have bad servers and an unreliable link checker.

Megaupload are now the most popular host and they're around for a long time. You don't write about the second biggest host at the moment, mediafire.com. Also 4shared.com, still ranked 4th, is a very popular host.

You're writing about 5 hosts while there are thousands of other hosts. Did you also try some of those?

Originally Posted by remi

I'm sorry for you that that forum is dead now.

@MrHuk

If you want to know more about filesonic, then I can tell you that they're suffering from growth pains. Filserve have bad servers and an unreliable link checker.

Megaupload are now the most popular host and they're around for a long time. You don't write about the second biggest host at the moment, mediafire.com. Also 4shared.com, still ranked 4th, is a very popular host.

You're writing about 5 hosts while there are thousands of other hosts. Did you also try some of those?

I've used Mediafire a couple of times as a free user, but only tiny files. I've never used 4shared or any other host really, the ones I mentioned have all the content I need.

Thanks again for your input guys, it's valuable information to me
Personally I like mediafire a lot in terms of no waiting times & speeds. The only reason I see for being less popular is that they don't have a reward program wich causes uploaders to walk away from.
4shared.com is somehow in my eyes a music host. I know you can up/download everything else but I never used it for anything else then seperate mp3 files. They have been around for long and seem to be reliable though.

I also am a free downloader, and I'm a little lazy to always search many different sites for the stuff I want at the hosters I prefer most. So, I have to take what I get, it's more about which hosters I won't use (atm: netload, share-online.biz).

I don't really care about speed (unless it's ridiculously slow like netload since some time now), but I care about a reliable, hassle-free service (not like share-online and some others which constantly generate more or less fake errors to nudge you into buying premium), and obviously I prefer sites without captchas (or those beatable by JD). If the uploaders would check the maximum filesizes once in a while and change the size of new uploads accordingly, this would also be a criteria, but many of those guys still brainlessly upload their stuff in 100 MB parts, instead of always using the smallest max. filesize of the hosters they upload to.

All that makes Rapidshare and Megaupload my preferred hosters atm.

[pspzockerscene]

Originally Posted by Pressfred

but many of those guys still brainlessly upload their stuff in 100 MB parts, instead of always using the smallest max. filesize of the hosters they upload to.

They're not brainless.
100MB is a good size.
Imagine you upload a 1 GB file in one piece and then your connection crashes -> lost all!
Also 100MB is good for the downloaders and if you upload on multiple hosters 100MB is a good size because nearly every hosters allows at least 100MB.

GreeZ pspzockerscene

I think he means why don't uploaders use smaller parts so the waiting time is reduced. This would result in more parts and maybe a bit more work for the uploader although some hosters allow multiple files at once. Some hosters have longer waiting times with larger files. For example when you download a 100MB part you need to wait 15min before you can download again. If they would use 50MB it would take ~7mins ~5mins. Actually I think it's a good point in terms of downloaders. The biggest reason you'll find mostly larger parts is due to the reward program being set to higher payout on bigger filesize. If someone downloads 100MB part they get $1 per 1000 downloads. If they download a 1GB part they get $5 per 1000 downloads.
So all in all, they're not brainless. They're just trying to get the best money out of it

[pspzockerscene]

Originally Posted by Vjeetn

For example when you download a 100MB part you need to wait 15min before you can download again. If they would use 50MB it would take ~7mins.

And?
2*50 = 100MB
2*~7mins = ~15 mins
This wouldn't be faster^^

Btw. i hate all those "money for download"/reward/affiliate programms but that's another topic.

GreeZ pspzockerscene

LOL good point there pspzockerscene :D
I better adjust my post ^^
What I meant was it generally takes less time to download smaller files then bigger ones but my example given was a bad one.
It would take lets say 15min for a 100MB part and 5min for 50MB so you can download 100MB in 10mins instead of 15 if they use smaller parts.

About hating those reward progs. If you're an uploader I don't think you would hate to get paid ;p
To me it's only a bad thing because those are the things that get a hoster to it's knees sooner or later.

Originally Posted by pspzockerscene

They're not brainless.
100MB is a good size.
Imagine you upload a 1 GB file in one piece and then your connection crashes -> lost all!
Also 100MB is good for the downloaders and if you upload on multiple hosters 100MB is a good size because nearly every hosters allows at least 100MB.

I beg to differ. "Connection crashes" are a very rare thing (except for netload ;-) ), and if not, they are a problem your ISP or the hoster has to solve. IMO, the advantages of less waiting time and less captchas to enter outweigh the small disadvantage of maybe having to restart a download now and then.

I checked the comparison list on Wikipedia, before I wrote the last post, and there are hardly any hosters with 100 MB or less now. I'd find 250 MB an acceptable middle ground, but I'd like 400 MB better.

Originally Posted by Vjeetn

About hating those reward progs. If you're an uploader I don't think you would hate to get paid ;p
To me it's only a bad thing because those are the things that get a hoster to it's knees sooner or later.

I dislike that, too, and I would never take such money (except for the case that the uploaded stuff was originally created by myself). One should not make money with other people's work. Back in the C64 days, there were guys who sold diskettes with games, now their "successors" make money with uploading. May they rot in hell!

[pspzockerscene]

Guys i agree with you but that's off topic, please go back to the topic or i have to delete posts:biggrin:

GreeZ pspzockerscene

here is a link to a google sheet where everybody can edit. best overview imho.
noplu.de/filehosterwiki/

Use whatever premium account you want, but my advise is : NEVER CONTRACT WITH FILESERVE. They have banned my account with no reason, no answers, no explanations and stole my money. I activated a new account with them, a second one, and only 5 hours later of the purchase (1 year premium) they banned my account again and of course they don´t give back your money. I wrote hundreds of mails and they don´t answer you, they just stole your money.

I use Megaupload too and they are PERFECT for me

[pspzockerscene]

@Mecagon
I don't know how you paid them but paying via paypal, you can get your money back easily!

GreeZ pspzockerscene

@Mecagon

May I ask you why you paid for a second account after you knew that they are thieves?