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Trying to send large files overseas securely

Hi All,

I've been trying to set up a reliable system to send compressed videos of counselling sessions here (Australia) to a doctor in the U.S.

We had a VPN based system for a while, but for various reasons, this is no longer appropriate.

Transfer sizes are usually about 500MB - 2GB at a time.

I've set up an FTP server in the U.S. which uses a home-made SSL Certificate for data encryption. Security is reasonably important, but the likelihood of someone wanting to hack this is fairly low.


For some reason, the FTP sessions are dropping out whenever I try to send an individual file over about 300 MB.

If anyone has ideas for what could be causing these problems or suggestions for other solutions, that'd be great...

Regards,

Chris Fry

Marymead-IT
Newbie Poster
22 posts since May 2007
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you have to adjust the settings on the ftp server so that it allows bigger files to be sent. i think you're also using way too much bandwidth, so this could be a problem also.

TheNNS
Nearly a Posting Virtuoso
1,467 posts since Jul 2006
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First I would look into getting an SFTP server and client (secure file transfer protocal).

Then, I would use 7-zip, winRAR, or some other compression tool to compress these large files while simultaneously breaking them into smaller fragments that may have an easier time being uploaded/downloaded en mass.

Spriggan
Junior Poster in Training
79 posts since Jun 2007
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First I would look into getting an SFTP server and client (secure file transfer protocal).

Then, I would use 7-zip, winRAR, or some other compression tool to compress these large files while simultaneously breaking them into smaller fragments that may have an easier time being uploaded/downloaded en mass.

What he said, 'cept for 2GB you shouldn't really need to break the archive up into segments, unless that is the doctor has a poor connection. But even then he just needs to use a download manager so downloads can be resumed.

Let us know how you get on :)

iam
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12 posts since Apr 2007
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Hi Guys, thanks for the replies.

TheNNS:
- The FTP Server has been configured to allow for unlimited file sizes
- Our internet connection is 2 Mbps, unlimited data transfers and the other end is faster, also with unlimited data transfers, so I don't think band width is the issue. However, it may be that one of our ISPs is timing out and dropping the connection.

Spriggan:
- I'll try archiving files, but they are already heavily compressed, so I won't get a smaller file out of it - i.e. original videos are in high definition, and roughly 25 GB/hour of footage. The other problem with compression/archiving is that it adds an extra, time consuming step to the process, but if this is the only solution, then we'll just have to do it.

I think "breaking them into smaller parts" could be a good solution, as long as its not too difficult to put them back together for our friend in the U.S. (his computer literacy is limited).

Iam: Do you know of a good, secure "download manager" solution that would be appropriate, or any open source projects I could modify to do this?

Thanks everyone for your help thus far.

Chris

Marymead-IT
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22 posts since May 2007
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um, why not just burn them to cd or dvd and mail them by recorded delivery ?

jbennet
Moderator
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> um, why not just burn them to cd or dvd and mail them by recorded delivery ?

it would take them quite a few dvd's, or a couple blu ray discs, (blu ray is way too expensive).

TheNNS
Nearly a Posting Virtuoso
1,467 posts since Jul 2006
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I use YourBucket file sharing to send big files over. It's Free

http://www.yourbucket.com

lodenian
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2 posts since Jan 2008
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They have no privacy policy - dont use them

jbennet
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Thanks all,

jbennet - movies need to be sent weekly, and mailing from Australia to the U.S. is too time consuming/expensive.

We've got someone else working on this now, but I believe they're using an SFTP system.

Thanks for all your help,

Chris Fry

Marymead-IT
Newbie Poster
22 posts since May 2007
Reputation Points: 13
Solved Threads: 1
 

This question has already been solved

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