I don't know if I am the first or the last person to discover how to do this.

Assuming you run Windows, - are you able to start a download
and later stop it and turn off your computer for the night -
then the next day either resume your download or resume some
other partially completed download?

I can do that. I use a free program called TrueDownloader that
lets me do that. There are other programs, but I am not familiar
with them.

It doesn't actually speed up the download, it just provides you
with more flexibility.

Jack

Thanks stewjack, that's interesting... might help me get over what I call "the Cat Problem". I usually set a large file downloading when I head off to bed, and then turn the PC off when I get up... but a few times I've got up to find a certain white moggy sprawled out on my keyboard, snoring her head off, and the download mysteriously halted before it was finished...

Click to view attachment <---- the culprit...

Most sensible FTP clients and servers have been able to resume downloads since the year dot. I don't know (or care) if the ones from Microsoft have caught up with the rest of the world yet.

I find wget (does http and ftp transfers as long as there isn't a robot.txt file preventing the transfer) does most of what I want over an occasionally flaky broadband link.

wget home page

Cheers,
Chris.

Location of TrueDownloader
(It's no longer being supported but I know it works on Win98 and XP)
I don't claim it is the best, but it works for me.

http://francis.dupont.free.fr/truedownloader/

=====
Hints

1. Practice downloading with some short file - mp3 or whatever.
----
2. Under the TrueDownloader options TAB "Connections"
select max number segments 1
max simultaneous downloads 1
Note: I think that the default is 4, and it caused me all kinds of problems.
=====

Useful Trick
If you set your segments to more than 1, you can't do this.

First: After downloading a small portion of a big video file,
go to your installed TrueDownloader programs temp directory.
(see below)
C:\Program Files\TrueDownloader\temp

The above directory is the location of of your partial downloaded files.
Here is an example from my directory -
spirit_site124-129.mov001.tmp

Next place a copy of the file in a some new directory.
Example: C:\VideoTesting

Then Rename file
spirit_site124-129.mov

Last: Attempt to play the video file fragment. It almost always plays,
and when it doesn't - it is usually a problem with the source file, or your lack
of the proper codex's This can save you hours downloading video files that
don't play on your box!


Jack

I laso have a "Cat Problem"
Click to view attachment
Today it started at 5:00AM when he discovered how to get the voice mail on my land line phone to play back on speaker. Repeatedly.
He's more work than either of my kids ever were.

hikkhgtdckjy hik oih ohiuhoi

---+++CAT LIKE TYPING DETECTED+++---

Perhaps you could use this accessory as well?

http://bitboost.com/pawsense/

Though I have had several somewhat rather expensive kitty accidents involving studio monitors, a digital mixing board and a laptop....

BAD KITTY!
Click to view attachment

second wget.

Since (at least!) z-modem for dial-up. One of the delightful things I discovered around 1991, when I first signed up for a shell account with an ISP, was that the unix command "sz" would initiate a z-modem, resumable download via my ancient dial-up software (Microphone), thanks to a telnet driver included with the Microphone application from a surprisingly early date.

It probably still works, although I've long since switched to using the OS-X terminal application.

TTT (Talking Mac, of course)