Fetch Softworks

Get of larger files keeps stalling (21 posts)

• Started 14 years ago by aderkon
• Latest reply 14 years ago from JB

• aderkon Member

  Tried to get a 416 MB and a 3.65 GB video file down from my ftp, gets to 416 or 3.65 and then stalls until it's clear nothing's going to happen. I try to resume download and it says it can't find the partial file.

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  Which version of Fetch are you using?

  Most likely your files have downloaded completely and successfully, and Fetch is just stuck waiting for an acknowledgement from the server that the download is actually done - that is, all the data in your file is actually downloaded, the server just hasn't sent the "close connection" signal. We have tried to address some cases of this in our latest version, Fetch 5.5.

  In regards to the error from resume download, did you delete or move the unsuccessfully downloaded file before you tried to resume download? For best results with resume download, you should leave the partially downloaded file exactly where it was.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Edited 14 years ago #

• aderkon Member

  thanks for responding, this is an urgent situation.

  I tried to download the 3.65g file a couple of times, and I didn't do anything to the partially downloaded files. When I try to open the last partial file, which is 3.65g so it seems it may have completely downloaded, a small Fetch window comes up and says "the action could not be completed because an error has occurred" and gives Mac error -50.

  The files appear with the extensions of the original files (.avi), but the icon is a green downward-pointing arrow and a purple disk, and under "kind" it says "Fetch partial download."

  I was doing this with a previous version of Fetch, probably the immediate predecessor to the current one, and just updated to 5.5.

  If the file has downloaded, Is there a way can I open it so I don't have to go thru another 5-hour ordeal?

  Edited 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  Hopefully Fetch 5.5 will fix the problem with the download for you. I'm not sure why you would be getting a error -50 while trying to resume the download; but we'll worry about that if Fetch 5.5 has the same problem.

  If Fetch 5.5 still stalls at the end of the download, then here's what you should do next:

  * Click the stop (X) button in the Fetch transfer window to stop the dog from running.
  * Instead of double-clicking on the partial download file to try to resume, go to the Remote menu in Fetch, and choose Resume Download.
  * Select the name of your file, and click resume.
  * If you get an error while trying to resume the download, move on to the next step. Otherwise, hopefully resume download should finish downloading the file.
  * If resume download gave you an error again, select the file in the Fetch window, and click the Info button.
  * Select the "partial download" file in the Finder, and choose File > Get Info.
  * Compare the number of bytes listed in the Fetch info window with the number of bytes listed in the Finder info window.
  * If the number of bytes in the Finder info window is equal to or greater than than the number of bytes in the Fetch info window, your downloaded file is actually complete.
  * To stop it from being listed as a Fetch partial download, in the Finder info window, choose the correct application the file should open in from the "Open window" menu.
  * If the number of bytes in the Finder window is less than the number of bytes in the Fetch window, let us know, and we will try to figure out how to proceed.

  By the way, is this a new problem? Have you been able to download large files successfully with Fetch in the past?

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• aderkon Member

  Thanks Scott, I tried it with the 3.65g file and it worked.

  I don't think I had this difficulty before with Fetch but I also have not been moving files this large before. Before I would just try again and eventually they would download successfully but getting up to this size that's not really good enough so if this solution keeps working it'll be very valuable.

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  I'm glad to hear the download of the 3.65 GB file worked.

  Out of curiosity, which part worked better with Fetch 5.5? The file downloaded without stalling? It did stall, but you were able to resume download?

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Edited 14 years ago #

• aderkon Member

  Hi Scott,

  I'm sorry, but I'm not completely sure if it was due to the fact I was using Fetch 5.5 that I was able to finish the download because it was only after the upgrade that I used the specific steps you explained. But before I upgraded I remember "resume download" not working a couple of times when I would choose it from the menu; and the problem I described in my first post happened before upgrading but never afterwards. Also when I simply double-clicked one of the partly downloaded file that had stalled, it resumed automatically in 5.5, while that never happened in the previous version.

  None of these differences were tested systematically at all though, I didn't try the same things with all the files. It's possible that some of the problems I was experiencing before happened with files that were not finished uploading while I was downloading them, perhaps that was a contributing factor. Generally though, the problems went away with your solution and the upgrade.

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  No problem, I was just curious. Regardless, it's good to hear that Fetch 5.5 seems to have fixed things for you. If you run into problems again, please let us know.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  Hi Scott,

  I have an issue which relates to aderkon's problem.

  I'm using Fetch 5.5 on an intel dual processor Mac Pro.

  I have just launch an online image library after four years in the making and I've always used Fetch to upload images and site files.

  I've now finely got round to backing up the entire site, including html stuff, php stuff, site pages etc, and of course, images.

  The high res images which my clients can download from my site come in five different sizes, the largest being around 15 to 20 Mb.

  While using Fetch's Mirror function to back up the site I get frequent 'Stalls', usually on the large files but not always.

  As I have hundreds of images to backup I need to let my mac run constantly for several days to complete the initial back up, but because of the frequent stalls I have to sit in front of my monitor day and night so that I can restart the mirroring process after each stall. I do this by clicking the 'Stop the current action' button at the bottom right of the fetch window and then clicking 'Mirror' on my saved mirror application.

  Looks like I'm in for a long haul......I've had five stalls while typing this message !

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  Stall stall stall.........it's driving me crazy

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi JB,

  To clarify, are you uploading these files, or downloading them?

  You say you are using Fetch 5.5 - if you are indeed using Fetch 5.5, and not our latest version, Fetch 5.5.2, please update to Fetch 5.5.2 and see if it helps with the problem. You can download it from our homepage at http://fetchsoftworks.com . We have fixed some additional causes of stalls in this latest version.

  If that doesn't help, or you are already using Fetch 5.5.2, let us know and we'll investigate further.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Edited 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  Thanks for the speedy response Scott.

  I am actually using 5.5.2.

  I've tried one or two other ftp applications but they just don't compare with Fetch, ie, too slow, unnecessarily complex, or simply a pain to use. I've always used Fetch without any problems, but now I'm pulling my hair out trying to back up four years of hard work creating my site.

  Hope that you can help.

  JB

  Edited 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi JB,

  I'm glad to hear that Fetch usually works well and without problems for you.

  Given that you haven't had these sorts of problems before and that you're already using Fetch 5.5.2, I'd suggest turning on and off all your network hardware. I realize this seems like an overly simple trouble-shooting step, but we've learned that sometimes a problem creeps in that causes stalls, and restarting everything related to your Internet connection fixes the problem. Here's the order we recommend you do things in:

  * Shut down your Mac.
  * Unplug your router or wireless base station (if you have one; a router is a device for sharing your Internet connection with multiple computers).
  * Unplug your cable/DSL modem.
  * Plug the cable/DSL modem back in, and wait about a minute for it to get completely started up.
  * Then plug the router or wireless base station back in, and wait another minute for it to start up.
  * Finally, start your Mac.

  Give that a try and let us know if it helps. If it doesn't, we'll see if we can find other things to try.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  OK, I'll give it a try Scott, and then let you know what happens.

  Thanks

  JB

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  Hi Scott,

  I've done what you suggested with with the router and cable modem. It did help without a doubt, for a while, but now I'm getting a stall on almost every single image download. I've done different things with the router and modem but I'm still getting stalls.

  I need to get the back up completed as if I lost what's on the server for what ever reason it would simply be the end of four years dedicated work and expense. It would also be the end of my project for good.

  Fetch is stalling for about 70% of the time.

  Thanks for help though, it's working marginally better.

  JB

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi JB,

  Sorry to hear that didn't really fix the problem. Unfortunately, it sounds like this may be an issue with the server that we may not be able to help you resolve.

  But if you send us a Fetch Transcript, we'll take a look and see if we can figure anything out and make additional suggestions.

  Please do the following:

  * Quit Fetch.
  * Open Fetch again.
  * Try mirroring from your server again.
  * After the transfer stalls, go to the Window menu, and choose Fetch Transcript.
  * Copy the entire contents of the transcript window, and paste them into or attach them to an email to bugs@fetchsoftworks.com.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  Good Morning Scott,

  What's interesting is the fact that around the hour of midnight my back up process began to saccumb to fewer stalls in Fetch. I decided to monitor the situation right through until turned 3 am this morning at which time my files were being backed up at rocket speed, with only the very occasional stall. I left it running through the rest of the night and maybe it was just sods law that it stalled a few minuets after I had turned in. This morning, however, I've had three stalls already.

  I'm told by my coders in Russia that my site is sluggish/slow and that I should move it to another hosting company. Maybe the stall situation is at least partly due to traffic on the server.

  It's just stalled again, so I'll sent the transcript file to you in a mo.

  Thanks

  JB

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi JB,

  Thanks for sending the transcript and the additional information.

  Based on your description, and looking at the transcript, I'd say an overloaded server sounds like the likely explanation. When Fetch is stalling for you, what I see happening is Fetch sends a command to the server asking for another file to download - and the server never responds. There isn't a lot Fetch can do about that. I think your coders' suggestion to move to another hosting company is worth considering.

  The best I can offer for a solution on our end is that we could try to write an AppleScript that will watch Fetch and try to detect when the Mirror has stalled, and then restart the Mirror command when that happens. That way, at least you wouldn't have to watch Fetch and restart the transfer manually. Let me know if you'd be interested in looking into that.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  Hi Scott,

  Many many thanks for looking into this for me.

  When my back up is complete I will be looking for another hosting company. I've got some good contacts so I'd just need to get to know the best way of moving the site as I have emails and email forwarders registered with my hosting company, shouldn't too big a problem though I think.

  Your solution would be excellent. Would it be something built into Fetch, or a stand alone script ?

  JB

  Posted 14 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi JB,

  It would be a standalone script. One of my colleagues (the AppleScript expert) will follow up with you about it.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 14 years ago #

• JB Member

  OK, Thanks Scott.

  JB

  Posted 14 years ago #