Looking for an upload form / FTP Replacement.

[Captweez]

I've been searching for an upload form / FTP replacement product for some time and all the solutions I've reviewed seem to come up short in one area or another. If the community has any suggestions I'd appreciate it.

Requirements:
Reliability. Uploads up to 750 mb need to be reliable.
Embeddable upload form (We don't really want to host)
Customizable form fields. (I need to be able to collect some basic data with each upload. This eliminated yousendit pro)
Progress Bar or at least some kind of good UI so people understand when an upload is in progress.
Email notification to us and an email customer confirmation when an upload is complete.
Would appreciate the ability to upload multiple files at once.
Don't want to spend much more then $25-30 a month.

I was excited about Jotform, but found it to be too unreliable with large files during testing. :-( Am I asking too much? Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Enrique]

As a former programmer and thinking about the server-side requirements for the above, I don't think there'll be a pre-made solution that fits those needs. You might be better off finding someone to code this for you, which unfortunately will mean hosting it yourself (unless you want to pay them to host and maintain it for you too).

On the plus side, however, if you host it yourself, you can have the script coded to where it'll mimic whatever filing system you use on your in-house systems (i.e. a new upload from Client XYZ will go in XYZ folder) and you can map your FTP server as a disk drive on your computers.

 

[mattbeals]

Those are pretty big files and that can lend itself to data corruption. Fortunately TCP/IP has some fault tolerance for bad/missing packets. Then there are timeouts, resends, etc. Not an easy thing to make bulletproof across the public internet. Can it be done, yes. Is there a service you can subscribe to? Doubt it. Like Enrique said you'll probably have to have someone program/develop it for you. You are better off hosting it yourself I think.

On the extreme end you could use something like PitStop Connect and PowerSwitch to do this and so much more. But that's at the extreme end.

 

[pcmodem]

This sounds like a job for Rumpus FTP software, but you would have to host it, or pay to have it hosted somewhere. Rumpus has the ability for form fields, multiple file uploads, email notification, progress bars. The file size would be determined on your internet bandwidth if you hosted.

 

[maas]

something like this maybe;

Adstream | Advertising workflow and media management

widely used subscription based service in Australasia

 

[cjwworld]

I have been using Jotform. JotForm Easiest Form Builder you can create a form that is an upload form. If you are a user of Dropbox, you can incorporate that into Dropbox.
http://www.jotform.com/Dropbox

for example, I create this simple upload form Form

UPDATE: oops, didn't read all the OP post.. Sorry.. I found it reliable for myself but apparently, not for you.

 

[Captweez]

Thanks guys. Rumpus sounds interesting.
Cjworld. Jotform was almost the perfect solution. I just couldn't get it to reliably accept a file larger then about 400 mb. :-(

I've heard all about the technical difficulties of making this work right. Packet Loss etc. I can appreciate it, but I know there are sites that get it done somehow. Yousendit seems to work well. I've also uploaded large files to youtube and they seem to work fairly well.

I can't believe somebody dosent' have an easy system with a Amazon S3 backend. I've thought about coding it myself from scraps, but I want someone to yell at when it breaks.

 

[Captweez]

If I figure this out, I might have to sell it

 

[Francois]

Right.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

 

[cjwworld]

We use Dropbox for transfering big files. Although, there are downsides to it, having each user have their own Dropbox account and using shared folder. It works well for our Newspaper Clients and Customers. Just a thought.

Dropbox is mainly a syncing tool.. although, its quota controlled by the type of account you have but what I do is just drag files off Drobox folder then that freezes up the room

 

[TigerPress]

We use aspUpload from Persits Software. You will have to host it, but it only costs $200 one time. You can customize the upload fields and it has a progress bar. See Persits Software, Inc. - Powerful ASP & ASP.NET Components.

 

[PrePress Guru]

I 2nd Rumpus, its pretty amazing for something thats under $500.
We use it everyday, clients upload files ranging from a few MB’s to a few GB’s.
The upload forms are easy to create and you can set many different types of notifications and even folder triggers and scripts.
I really don’t know what we would do without it.

 

[Simple2FTP_Steve]

Simple2FTP Meets most of your needs

Simple2FTP Meets most of your needs

Check out my application at www.Simple2FTP.com

It will easily allow reliable uploads of a gig or more (it is actually an FTP client disguised as a web application). Check if the software will suit your needs and use the Contact Us form to see if they can accomodate hosting for you.

Regards,
Steve