Today when you click on a file link in Google Search that is pointing to MediaFire, you are redirected to the error page http://www.mediafire.com/error.php?errno=381.

It reads:

The indexed link is unavailable.

The link that was indexed is currently set to a non-indexing state and cannot be accessed.

If you copy the link url and paste it directly in your browser’s address bar, you are taken to the download page from where you can download the file normally. It is also interesting to note that downloads are still working if you are using Bing Search instead of Google.

It is not clear at this point if Google Search is the only referrer that has been blocked by Mediafire, or if there are other sites that have been blocked as well by the file hosting service.

Another thing that is unclear is whether this has been an intentional move by the site, or if it is a technical issue that will be resolved at a later point in time. It does not make lots of sense from a legal point of view, unless law enforcement agencies are using Google exclusively for their research.

Users who find files that they cannot download should copy and paste the url into their browser’s address bar to download it. It is alternatively possible to install an extension like Refcontrol to modify the referrer for sites that are blocked by Mediafire.

Lets discuss the move in the comments.

Update: Download links are working again. It seems to have been a technical issue after all.

Download Helper is a new Opera extension that improves the downloading of files from specific file hosting sites. The Opera extension supports several popular file hosting services including Hotfile, Megaupload, Depositfiles, 4Shared and Mediafire.

Here are the effects on the file hosting sites:

• On Megaupload.com it will automatically start download after the time ends.
• On Hotfile.com it will popup window where you can type captcha and download link will appear without waiting.
• On Depositfiles.com it will automatically choose Free download and automatically start download without
  waiting 60 seconds to download file.
• On 4Shared.com it will automatically start download after the time ends.
• On Mediafire.com it will automatically start download.

The extension will start to download the selected file automatically once the wait time is over on three of the five file hosts. It can bypass the wait time on Hotfile and Depositfiles making it an interesting extension for users who download files from Hotfile or Depositfiles regularly.

Download Helper supports additional Georgian file hosts as well allowing the user to download files instantly from all supported file hosts.

Opera users who use at least one of the supported file hosts on a regular basis might want to test the Download Helper Opera add-on. Please take note that add-ons only work in Opera 11 and later.

This can be done with a bookmarklet called Free File Host Search (FFHS) available for Firefox and Internet Explorer. A bookmarklet is a piece of code that can be saved as a bookmark and can be used to interact with the user. In this case the bookmarklet displays a form when clicked in which the user can enter the search term he is looking for.

FFHS is simultaneously searching 22 file hosts for that file displaying all results in a normal Google result window. Included are the most popular file hosts such as Rapidshare, Megaupload and Mediafire.

You add the bookmarklet to your browser by simply dragging and dropping it into the bookmarks toolbar or right-clicking it and selecting to bookmark it. It is also possible to test it by left-clicking it on the authors page.

Read More:

Free File Host Search

There is no way to browse through the files on Mediafire directly which means that we once again rely on search engines to give us the information that we want. You can use Google, Yahoo and any other search engine that offers a site search.

The basic command for searching sites is “site:url“, for Mediafire it would be “site:mediafire.com” The following is a list of possible commands that reveal lots of files of the type that you specified:

site:mediafire mp3
site:mediafire.com zip
site:mediafire.com avi

It is possible to combine filetypes, just add a | between each file type. This would look like this then:

site:mediafire.com mp3 | ogg

You can also search for specific filenames, just replace the filetype with the filename:

site:mediafire.com e-book

Here are some stats taken from Google. Google has indexed almost 45000 links to mp3 files that are hosted at Mediafire, 20000 zip files, 6200 avi files and 42000 rar files. Not all files are working though. If Mediafire deletes a file it will still be shown for some time in the search engine that you have used.