Why Cloud File Sharing Isn't Always the Best Option

The Upload-Then-Download Trap

Here's something that bothers me every time I watch someone share a file using cloud storage: the file leaves their device, travels to a data center (often hundreds of miles away), gets stored on someone else's server, and then travels all the way back to a device sitting three feet from the original one.

I'm not exaggerating. When you share a photo from your phone to your PC using Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox, the file takes a round trip through the internet even if both devices are on the same WiFi network. Your home router sends it out, the file hits a server in Virginia or Oregon, and then your router pulls it back down.

For a single photo, this doesn't matter. For a 4GB video file, you're waiting for two full transfers instead of one. Your upload speed is almost always slower than your download speed on residential internet, so that upload leg becomes the bottleneck. On my connection in Greenville, SC, I get about 300 Mbps down but only 35 Mbps up. Uploading a 4GB video takes over 15 minutes before the download even starts.

Direct local transfer skips the round trip entirely. The file goes straight from device A to device B over your local network at LAN speeds, which on WiFi 5 or 6 can hit 100-300 MB/s real-world throughput.

File Size Limits Nobody Tells You About

Cloud providers advertise storage capacity but bury the per-file limits. Google Drive caps individual uploads at 5TB (generous), but Gmail attachments max out at 25MB. Outlook attachments cap at 20MB. iCloud Mail goes up to 20MB per attachment.

Dropbox Transfer has a 100MB limit on free accounts and 2GB on paid. WeTransfer free tops out at 2GB. These limits force you into workarounds: splitting files, compressing them, or upgrading to paid tiers.

I ran into this last month trying to send a 6GB project archive to a friend. Google Drive would have worked, but my upload speed made it a 30-minute wait. WeTransfer refused the file entirely. I ended up using OpenDrop over a remote tunnel, which handled the full 6GB without splitting or compressing anything. On LAN, OpenDrop streams files up to 10GB with no chunking at all.

The Privacy Cost of "Free" Cloud Storage

Every file you upload to a cloud service exists on hardware you don't control. That's the fundamental trade-off.

Google scans Drive files for policy violations. Dropbox employees have access to file metadata and, in some cases, content for debugging. iCloud uses server-side encryption by default (not end-to-end), which means Apple holds the decryption keys. Microsoft's terms of service for OneDrive include the right to scan content for violations of their acceptable use policy.

For most personal files, this is fine. Nobody cares about your vacation photos. But for sensitive documents like tax returns, medical records, legal contracts, or unreleased creative work, routing them through third-party servers adds risk that a direct device-to-device transfer avoids entirely.

Local network transfers never leave your router. The data goes from one device to another over your home WiFi and never touches the public internet. That's not a feature you need to enable or pay for; it's just how local networking works.

I started building OpenDrop partly for this reason. I didn't trust third-party transfer tools with my files, and I didn't want everything living on someone else's server just so I could move it between my own devices.

Speed: Cloud Round-Trip vs Direct Transfer

Numbers tell the story better than arguments. I tested transferring a 2GB file between my Windows 11 desktop and my M5 MacBook Pro, both on the same home network.

Google Drive: Upload took 6 minutes 40 seconds (constrained by my 35 Mbps upload). Download took about 50 seconds. Total wall clock time: roughly 7.5 minutes.

Dropbox: Similar numbers. Upload was the bottleneck at about 6 minutes. Download was fast. The sync delay added another 20-30 seconds before the file appeared on the other machine.

OpenDrop (LAN): Direct transfer at LAN speed. The 2GB file moved in about 18 seconds. Both devices were on WiFi 6, which helped, but even on WiFi 5 I'd expect under 40 seconds for that file size.

The difference is dramatic because cloud transfers are bound by your internet upload speed, while LAN transfers are bound by your local network speed. Your router's internal throughput is almost always faster than your ISP connection.

Remote transfers change the equation. If devices are on different networks, cloud storage and direct-over-internet tools compete on more equal footing. OpenDrop's free remote mode uses Cloudflare tunnels with 5MB chunked transfers at around 8 Mbps. The Pro relay hits 30-50+ Mbps with true streaming. Cloud services vary depending on your connection and their server load.

When Cloud Storage Actually Makes Sense

I'm not here to tell you cloud storage is bad. I use Google Drive daily for documents I need to access from multiple devices, and I keep project backups in iCloud. Cloud storage wins in specific scenarios.

Sharing with external people. If you need to send a file to someone who doesn't have any software installed and might be on a different continent, a shareable link from Google Drive or Dropbox is hard to beat. You can't expect everyone to install a transfer app.

Persistent access across devices. Cloud sync keeps your files available on every device all the time. If you edit a document on your phone during lunch and need it on your desktop later, auto-sync handles that. Direct transfer is a point-in-time action, not ongoing sync.

Collaboration. Google Docs, Notion, and similar tools exist because they're cloud-native. Real-time co-editing requires a shared server. Direct transfer doesn't solve this use case.

Backup and redundancy. Cloud storage provides off-site backup. If your house floods, your local NAS is gone but your cloud backup survives. Direct transfer tools move files but don't provide backup.

Setting Up Direct Transfer as Your Default

The best workflow uses both approaches: cloud for sharing and collaboration, direct transfer for moving files between your own devices.

Step 1: Install a Direct Transfer Tool

OpenDrop runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. Install it on the devices you own. It auto-discovers other devices on your network using mDNS (_opendrop._tcp.local. on port 8000), so there's no manual setup after installation.

Step 2: Change Your Habit for Device-to-Device Transfers

Next time you need to move a file from your phone to your PC, reach for the direct transfer tool instead of uploading to cloud storage. On the same network, the transfer completes in seconds instead of minutes. Files land in a consistent location: ~/Downloads/OpenDrop/Files on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenDrop\Files on Windows.

Step 3: Keep Cloud for What It Does Best

Reserve cloud storage for files that need to be accessible from anywhere, shared with other people, or backed up off-site. Synced folders, shared documents, and photo backup all make sense in the cloud. Moving a video file from your phone to your desktop for editing does not.

Step 4: Test the Speed Difference

Pick a file over 500MB and try both methods. Time the cloud round-trip (upload plus download) against a direct LAN transfer. The difference is usually enough to change your default behavior permanently. On my network, the direct transfer is typically 10-20x faster for files over 1GB.

Cloud storage is a tool with real strengths. But using it as your primary method for moving files between your own devices is like mailing a package to yourself via FedEx when the recipient is in the next room. There are better options for that specific job.