URL Resume

If you've ever had a large download from a web site fail part way through and been forced to restart it from the start (especially annoying when it dies at 90% or so) then you'll appreciate what URL Resume can do for you.

The URL Resume application was designed to be a simple command line HTTP file transfer utility that has the ability to resume a partially complete web download. For this to work the server must be HTTP 1.1 compatible (which many are these days).

Usage is very easy. Firstly, ensure that the part of the file that has already been downloaded is in the current directory. Then use the command: urlresume full_url [-p proxy_url]

where full_url is the full URL of the file you're trying to get. The leading http:// can be omitted (only http URLs are supported).

If the site is password protected, you can include your userid and password in the standard format, EG http://userid:password@www.securehost.com/doc.html This will cause urlresume to send an HTTP 'Basic' authorisation.

A proxy can be specified using the -p switch. This will typically take the form: urlresume www.company.com/files/file.zip -p proxy.myisp.com:8080

Hint: if you originally tried the download from Netscape, right click the link and select 'Copy this Link Location' then paste the URL to the command line.

URL Resume is not limited to continuing downloads. It is quite able to start a new transfer, allowing batched file transfers and other uses.