MediaMax, a San Diego-based startup that allowed you to upload and share big files and create a social network around it, is dead. “We regret to inform you that we will be closing The Linkup service on Friday, August 8 at 5:00 pm PDT,” the company wrote on its web site this morning. Good riddance, because it was a brain-dead idea to begin with. More importantly, the company constantly lost users’ data — not a good survival strategy considering data is your business.
The company was first known as Streamload, then MediaMax, then quickly changed its name to TheLinkUp, promising people that their files would automatically move over from MediaMax to TheLinkUp. Changing monikers didn’t quite reverse their fortunes, however, and they remained as clueless as ever. “It was not possible to satisfactorily complete the move of files from MediaMax to The Linkup as we had expected, and as a result cannot offer a service.” No kidding. The users are mad - no surprise there.
Anyway, I expect that dozens of these upload-store-share-backup-type services are going to take a nap in the dirt soon — and if you are using one of them, think twice before trusting them with your information. I would recommend Box.net, Apple’s dot.mac (Mobile Me) and AOL XDrive. I personally use Joyent’s BingoDisk, a for-pay service that meets all of my needs for now.
3 trackbacks so far
5:24 PM PT
[...] from TheLinkup to ElephantDrive As many observers of the online storage world are aware, The Linkup is winding down and its users will need to find a new home for their data. The Linkup was the latest [...]
4:56 AM PT
[...] AOL’s Xdrive, which despite corporate backing recently joined the likes of Omnidrive and MediaMax on the proverbial technology garbage [...]
3:21 PM PT
[...] mainstays of the cloud storage space have recently made disturbing announcements. First, TheLinkup (formerly known as Streamload and then MediaMax, and often confused for sister company Nirvanix) is now gone. They suffered a catastrophic data [...]
17 comments so far
9:07 AM PT
You should check out European company Yuntaa.com.
They actually INSURE your data. So should anything happen to it while you store it with them, they would actually be able to pay you the damages. Up to 200,000 euros per case/user/year.
Quite interesting.
9:36 AM PT
Wow that is indeed an interesting approach to the data. I would most certainly check it out. Thanks for the tip.
11:31 AM PT
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Registrant:
Nine Audio Technologies
Steve Iverson
600 B Street #1850
San Diego, CA 92101
Email: (steve@mediamax.com
Registrar Name….: REGISTER.COM, INC.
Registrar Whois…: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: link)
Domain Name: mediamax.com
Created on…………..: Tue, Jul 01, 1997
Expires on…………..: Thu, Jun 30, 2011
Record last updated on..: Tue, Jun 19, 2007
Administrative Contact:
Steve Iverson
Steve Iverson
185 West F. Street Suite #430
San Diego, CA 92101
US
Phone: 619-233-9914
Email: steve@streamload.com
Technical Contact:
Steve Iverson
Steve Iverson
185 West F. Street Suite #430
San Diego, CA 92101
US
Phone: 619-233-9914
Email: sysadmins@streamload.com
DNS Servers:
ns2.lanechange.net
ns1.lanechange.net
2:39 PM PT
What recourse do we have against these people? We PAID for storage space.
3:29 PM PT
Good riddance is right. Not only did they loose data but they also screwed up billing and were as close to non-responsive as I’ve ever seen. This company should have gone under long ago. Fortunately, I terminated my service 2-3 months ago which seems rather timely in retrospect. Phew.
3:32 PM PT
Forgot to mention, I moved my stuff and now use the Carbonite service which works like a charm.
4:10 PM PT
Not exactly the same class of service, but I’ve been using Amazon S3 for all my off-site backup needs. My highest monthly bill has only been $5 or so (after a shockingly idiotic case of duping an entire directory of photos not once, but 4 times! :) )
7:48 PM PT
Wow! I didn’t have anything all that great on there to begin with but I thought they had finally gotten it right with TheLinkUp. They should have ended it with MediaMax and started TheLinkUp fresh with no affiliation to it’s former selves. Them trying to move data to a new site all the time probably hurt them the most; trying to do more than just provide storage bit them in the ass. Maybe they just doing this to cut the ties now. Thanks for all the storage/back-up site suggestions! I had no idea there was anything as sleek looking as the Streamload guys (click the Google Similar pages link always gave me crap).
2:56 AM PT
Mediamax never actually stored the files. Mediamax took over the customer services part of Streamload. The servers and data storage were spun off at that time as a new company called Nirvanix was set up. According to a report, it was Nirvanix that accidently deleted millions of files in 2007, which damaged Mediamax’s image fatally. Mediamax rebranded as The Linkup, but never recovered and is now filing for bankruptcy. The files are still on the Nirvanix servers (those that were not deleted, though some of those may still be recoverable). Mediamax said: “I think the only time we intentionally lied was when we denied being a customer of Nirvanix. That was a Nirvanix demand…. Your files are at Nirvanix. It’s now up to them to decide if they want to give you access to MediaMax.”
The initial response from Nirvanix is to refuse to do more than keep the files until 8 August for users to download through The Linkup interface. Yet 45% of file links never made it into The Linkup database from the Mediamax one. Nirvanix has the data, but will destroy it (to make more space on its servers to sell to other unknown interface companies) unless people campaign for THEIR DATA to be returned to them. See:
(link)
10:59 AM PT
please anybody know what i can do to get acess to my files
i started with streamload, then they was successfuly moved to mediamax and then i could not login there anymore, and now there are no files in the linkup site….
please somebody can help, i lost very importent files which i had nowhere else stored… my mistake, but i really need them, would pay for get them back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
please help!!!!!!
i am lost………
11:04 AM PT
i had all my files in mediamax 2-3 month ago, they was all there, i lost no files when Nirvanix, made this mistake to delay some files,
so does that mean that my files are still somewhere ???????
11:34 AM PT
streamload , mediamax , linkup!!!!
please somebody can help, i lost very importent files which i had nowhere else stored… my mistake, but i really need them, would pay for get them back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2:34 PM PT
livingroom… nirvanix lost your files. you need to either contact them or join the several pending lawsuits against these thieves.
(link)
12:17 PM PT
@ Thomas/livingroom
Here is the truth about what happened between the Linkup/MediaMax:
(link)
1:26 PM PT
“I would recommend … AOL XDrive.”
Ten days after Om wrote that, a leaked internal memo from AOL VP Kevin Conroy indicates that they’re planning to sell or shutter XDrive by the end of the year.
(link)
I hope it’s “sell” rather than shutter. I’ve been pleased with their service.
1:55 AM PT
Evan,
You’re going around the net under different usernames posting the same link. You posted it under 3 different names on my own blog.
Steve Iverson, president of Mediamax/The Linkup has said that Nirvanix is spreading lies and has even threatened to sue him. Go to nirvanixusers.blogspot.com to read his remarks. He and John Hood, former Mediamax head of Customer Service, have said the lost files are due to an error on the part of Nirvanix engineers.
Just take whatever you read on any official Nirvanix sites with a HUGE grain of salt. They’ve already deleted MILLIONS of customer files, and they think splitting off and forming a new company, and then lying to everyone, will give them a new start.
12:45 PM PT
hi,
any news on the situation, linkup, mediamax,
does anybody know if there is a possibility, to get on the
mediamax files..
brgds