Best Download Manager (Safari)

Macintosh software/hardware discussion and troubleshooting

Moderator: James Steele

Post Reply
User avatar
wdegillio
Posts: 129
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Los Angeles

Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by wdegillio »

I took advantage of the UVI Digital Sensations free offer, but then realized the download is about 10 GB(!). It also seems their server is pretty slow (an 18 hour download??). Has anyone had any success with the various download managers I see discussed (Foix, iGetter). I'm using Safari and my DSL connection speed is about 300 kb/second. Thanks in advance.
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzYInT ... 53N-Rs3c-g
Instagram - billgdegillio

2012 Mac Mini 2.3 GHz i7 (6.2)* 16 gigs RAM* OS 10.15.7* DP 11.22* MOTU M4* Scuffham S-Gear* Sibelius 8*
Xfer Records Serum & Nerve* u-he Zebra2 & Hive* NI Komplete 13* Korg Legacy Collection*
M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61* Presonus Central Station* Dynaudio BM5a* Rode NTH-100 & Grado SR225 Headphones
User avatar
monkey man
Posts: 13918
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by monkey man »

Funny you should ask, wdegillio!

My Digital-Synsations download was on target to take 3 and a half days; I was getting between 20 and 30k/s.

I figured I had nothing to lose by trying the linked Folx app as I've never tried a download manager before. It turns out that running it in Free mode gives you most of what you'd likely ever need. It splits the DL into two "threads", and this has resulted in the speed's varying between 60 and 200k/s. It oscillates constantly; the app updates the speed reading every second. I'm sitting at 5GB now, and only started the app 11 or 12 hours ago. That'll work out to be a 1-day download, which is a whole lot better than 3 and a half! Obviously, as you suggested, the UVI site is struggling to keep up with DL activity right now; I'd have expected it to be a whole lot faster.

So far, it's been rock-solid. I've only opened it once (this is the first time), set up the download and fiddled with the preferences and have yet to close it.

Based on this experience, I'd recommend it. The documentation (online, accessible through the Help menu) seems comprehensive and clear enough, and the app has some handy tagging options. In Pro mode (paid upgrade), downloads can be split into, I think, 25 threads (that'd be a whole lot faster) and scheduled and so on.

All up, the Monkster says, "Yes! You can dooo-iiiiit!".

Let us know how you go, mate.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I had to restart the Safari download twice due to "timed-out" errors, and didn't get past 150mb. At 5.13GB right now, I think we have a clear winner.

Mac 2012 12C Cheese Grater, OSX 10.13.6
MOTU DP8.07, MachFive 3.2.1, MIDI Express XT, 24I/O
Novation, Yamaha & Roland Synths, Guitar & Bass, Kemper Rack

Pretend I've placed your favourite quote here
User avatar
monkey man
Posts: 13918
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by monkey man »

A couple more things I forgot about, mate:

You can choose to install a Safari plug-in. Not sure it this is all it does, but I noticed two new entries in the right-click menu (right-click on a link or whatever), which'd save your having to manually drag said items to the app:

"Download with Folx" and "Download All with Folx".

Also, torrent-search, upload and download options exist within Folx Free. IOW, there's basically a torrent client built in, which could open up a whole new world depending on whether or not it'd be something new to you.

That's about it. If you're not sold, you're a tough room, brother!

Mac 2012 12C Cheese Grater, OSX 10.13.6
MOTU DP8.07, MachFive 3.2.1, MIDI Express XT, 24I/O
Novation, Yamaha & Roland Synths, Guitar & Bass, Kemper Rack

Pretend I've placed your favourite quote here
User avatar
wdegillio
Posts: 129
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by wdegillio »

Thank you, Monkey Man! Great- I'll give it a go.
It seems I'll be needing this even more down the road, since most companies are going to downloads and not snail-mailing DVD's much anymore. The only exceptions seem to be companies that will send you a thumb or hard drive containing their products (i.e. NI's Complete Ultimate), and then you are paying extra for hardware you probably don't need. Also, it seems sample sets/collections are getting bigger every day. It's great having the all the sonic choices for your music; we will just have to budget for faster DSL/Cable speeds and larger SSD's. (I know samples will stream from the hard drive, but we want short loading times, don't we!)
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzYInT ... 53N-Rs3c-g
Instagram - billgdegillio

2012 Mac Mini 2.3 GHz i7 (6.2)* 16 gigs RAM* OS 10.15.7* DP 11.22* MOTU M4* Scuffham S-Gear* Sibelius 8*
Xfer Records Serum & Nerve* u-he Zebra2 & Hive* NI Komplete 13* Korg Legacy Collection*
M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61* Presonus Central Station* Dynaudio BM5a* Rode NTH-100 & Grado SR225 Headphones
User avatar
bayswater
Posts: 11924
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:06 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Vancouver

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by bayswater »

Folx also worked for me. It was recommended by MOTU to download the RAR'd updates to Mach 5 libraries. It didn't seem to do much for speed, but did a good job of keeping track of download progress and re-establishing interrupted sessions.
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
User avatar
monkey man
Posts: 13918
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by monkey man »

That's great news, Stoiv. I've been holding my breath every time I resume a DL in Safari for many years now. Sounds like I won't have to any more. Woohoo!

Further lessening that "burden", Folx sure has resisted interruption very well for me. At 9.14GB out of the 9.64 that constant-titty-tutorials the Digital-Synsations download, there's still not been a stoppage, whereas in Safari I had two and gave up without even reaching 150mb.

Wdegillio, I have to agree with everything you wrote. Good luck with the DL. Looks like it'll take 21 to 22 hours here, which, again, is much better than 3 and a half days.

Mac 2012 12C Cheese Grater, OSX 10.13.6
MOTU DP8.07, MachFive 3.2.1, MIDI Express XT, 24I/O
Novation, Yamaha & Roland Synths, Guitar & Bass, Kemper Rack

Pretend I've placed your favourite quote here
User avatar
monkey man
Posts: 13918
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by monkey man »

OK, it completed!

Took 24 hours approximately. Can't complain!

Mac 2012 12C Cheese Grater, OSX 10.13.6
MOTU DP8.07, MachFive 3.2.1, MIDI Express XT, 24I/O
Novation, Yamaha & Roland Synths, Guitar & Bass, Kemper Rack

Pretend I've placed your favourite quote here
User avatar
bayswater
Posts: 11924
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:06 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Vancouver

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by bayswater »

I guess you go back into hiding now?
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
User avatar
monkey man
Posts: 13918
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by monkey man »

You guessed right, and I did, Stoiv... without even saying farewell! Seriously, I was so keen to re-establish my DL connections that I got caught up in that and only realised the extent of my rudeness when it was "too late".

Interesting development, 'though:
As per your advice, I tried to log in and... it worked for the first time using the VPN since, what, September or earlier?

Now, it may have had something to do with the fact that I already had the "View Unread Posts" window open from earlier and attempted to refresh it, which brought up the Log-in window. I'd normally not have access to this "route" as only the "View Active Topics" link is available when not logged in.

I'll keep the "Unread Posts" link in case it does indeed provide a reliable way in. This just might be one of the most intelligent decisions I've made in a while.

Then again, I chose not to bother Jimbo about this and am therefore unaware of any "move" he may have made; he's such a top bloke I wouldn't put it past him to have sneakily tweaked something. Who knows, he may have missed the sporadic, spasmodic and anomalous undertakings of the Monkster, but I'd like to think that my presence whilst going my humble way about my MonkeyLabs KleanUp™ work provides a certain sense of homeliness in these here far-flung(!) nether regions of the ethersphere.

Yikes! Looks like I'm back, at least 'til the session ends, which unfortunately on this board only lasts a matter of a few hours for me. Make the most of the mayhem while you can, Stoivo. LOL

Mac 2012 12C Cheese Grater, OSX 10.13.6
MOTU DP8.07, MachFive 3.2.1, MIDI Express XT, 24I/O
Novation, Yamaha & Roland Synths, Guitar & Bass, Kemper Rack

Pretend I've placed your favourite quote here
User avatar
bayswater
Posts: 11924
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:06 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Vancouver

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by bayswater »

Maybe each time you go into the VPN, it appears as a different IP address to the front end of the board. Anyway, you're in, so it's best left unanalysed.
2018 Mini i7 32G 10.14.6, DP 11.3, Mixbus 9, Logic 10.5, Scarlett 18i8
User avatar
wdegillio
Posts: 129
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Best Download Manager (Safari)

Post by wdegillio »

Digital Synsations finally up and running!
Monkey Man, Folx proved invaluable. At one point in the download, my modem ceased communication with the net; turning the modem on & off was enough to re-establish contact, and Folx resumed the DL without a hitch.
UVI Workstation was my first iLoc license-requiring software, so there was a little hitch getting that set up, but now I'm good to go. Time to turn back the clock (until I turn it ahead tonight!) and visit vintage synth land...
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzYInT ... 53N-Rs3c-g
Instagram - billgdegillio

2012 Mac Mini 2.3 GHz i7 (6.2)* 16 gigs RAM* OS 10.15.7* DP 11.22* MOTU M4* Scuffham S-Gear* Sibelius 8*
Xfer Records Serum & Nerve* u-he Zebra2 & Hive* NI Komplete 13* Korg Legacy Collection*
M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61* Presonus Central Station* Dynaudio BM5a* Rode NTH-100 & Grado SR225 Headphones
Post Reply