4shared.com is one of the most popular online file storage services. It was founded in 2005, and now, according to Alexa.com, ranks 89 in the world, attracting 2.6 million unique users daily. Their low cost service makes it easier than ever to back up and share files, music, videos, and photos online. Besides variety of features it’s available to make online slide shows and playlists, embed photos, music and video. 4shared.com is a multilingual site, with 15 languages at the moment of this review.

4shared allows to upload and share single file or entire folder – music, video, photos, documents. Anything, except illegal, porno and copyrighted materials. Also you can search files shared by other users in their public folders.

The service is powered with a special client software, 4shared Uploader, that is developed to make using of 4shared much easier. Folder uploading and ability to resume upload are possible. User’s virtual drive (personal account) has very intuitive interface. Menus and toolbars are designed in Windows-like style.

One of the most interesting features, that differs 4shared.com from similar online services, is their famous Advanced rights permission system for file sharing.

Free online file storage and sharing

Being one of the top free online storage sites, 4shared.com allows to get 5 GB of free space with 100 MB limit size of each file you are able to upload. But free account and all your files will be removed from if you do not log into the service for 30 days. Another limitation is that download speed will be lower than with Premium plan.

4shared service can be used for online file storage, file hosting, like RapidShare alternative, for enterprise sharing, online photo storage, MP3 music and video hosting.

Sharing Files & Folders – Howto

Online file sharing with other users is easy and functional because of permission system called FolderShare. You can share files with anyone, including non registered users. As soon as you upload files on 4shared’s server, you will be able to share your file with others using an access link that can be emailed or placed on web pages. Also you can make files available for public search. The FolderShare feature allows to share any of your folders with anyone by setting different access permissions on the folder.

Similar to a shared file, you can send a web-based link to your shared folder. With Read-only access, people can only download files from the folder. If you don’t want certain files from your shared folder to be visible for others, you should set up “View only public files” option and tick the files in the folder as “private” or “public” correspondingly. If the folder has “Delete or rename files” or “Moderator” permissions, then 4shared visitors can change files in it. So don’t set these permissions if you want to prevent your files from changes. If your shared folder has a ‘Moderator’ access, other users get all functionality within this folder.

Also it’s available to protect shared folder from unauthorized access by setting a password for it. To allow download for the file publisher only, please right-click on the file and select “Properties”. You will be taken to the “File Properties” page where you need to tick the “Allow downloading for publisher only” check box and click on the “Save” button.

However, if you don’t want your file to be seen by everyone, you should share your link confidentially, with certain people only. As the link is generated securely, it is absolutely impossible to access the file.
Go to www.4shared.com to learn more about online file sharing with different access permissions.

Online photo storage

4shared can be successfully used as online photo storage. Photo-hunters can upload and share image files with extensions *.jpg, *.gif, *.bmp, *.png. Also user can make online slide shows and playlists with embedded photos and videos.

Sub-domains

Online file sharing is possible through a web-link, like myfolder.4shared.com. In order to share, just right-click on the “My 4shared” folder in the directory tree on the left and select “Sharing and Security”. You will be taken to the page where you need to select the “Share this folder” option. On the same page you can customize the link to your shared folder so that it looks like myfolder.4shared.com. This can be implemented in the ‘Sub-domain’ section. Just enter the name for the sub-domain and check if it is available.

Comparing 4shared online file storage services:

Compare plans: Free vs Premium	Free	Premium
Download
Premium Traffic Amount of data you can download with premium features.	-	100 GB
Instant Download No waiting time before each download begins.	-	+
Ad-free Download No ads.	-	+
Download Speed Transfer speed priority.	Low	High
Resume Downloads Resume broken transfers using download managers.	-	+
Upload
Max File Size The maximum size of a file you are able to upload.	100 MB	4 GB
Web Grab Upload files from the Web.	-	+
File storage
Storage Space The size of the virtual drive for file storage.	5 GB	100 GB
Ad-free Sharing No ads in your account.	-	+
Direct Links Hot links for download managers or embedding the file to web page.	-	+

As you can see, with Premium plan you get 100 GB storage space and 4 GB size limitation per file. There are 5 options of payment inside the plan: $5 for 5 days, $10 for 1 month … $78 for 1 year.

Data Security

Users’ data resides in company’s database behind multiple firewalls and is not accessible from the Internet. In order to access it, operators must utilize the application server, whose access is limited by strict security. All confidential data, as usernames and passwords, are secured through an 128-bit encrypted connection. 4shared makes their databases’ backup  methodically, on a regular basis. So, the accuracy and safety of all data are guaranteed.

Client data is stored on 4shared’s online data storage servers for the duration of an account, plus up to 1 year after. Users can request to have information removed from 4shared servers at any time. Additionally, they can apply password protection to any folder. Customer-hosted Enterprise installations can further restrict access, by applying additional internal security measures.