Download a bit larger files fails in Abrowser and Tor

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Masaru Suzuqi -under review-
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Joined: 06/06/2018

I have been having this problem. It successes to download relatively small files (about 10Kb-10Mb). But I feel that if it is more than about 20-30 Mb, it fails while downloading. Then I have to download it from zero again. If I let it pause once and resume it, it starts download from zero every time.
I think that it has succeeded in download quite large files at least once. But usually it fails. I want to save internet traffic. Can I do something to solve this problem? Thank you.

chaosmonk

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Joined: 07/07/2017

> It successes to download relatively small files (about 10Kb-10Mb). But
> I feel that if it is more than about 20-30 Mb, it fails while
> downloading. Then I have to download it from zero again.

Perhaps your internet connection is getting interrupted during the
longer downloads. A workaround might be to use wget. Instead of clicking
the link in Firefox, copy the link, enter "wget " in a terminal, and
then paste the link:

$ wget

If for whatever reason wget gets interrupted and stops downloading, run

$ wget -c

in the same directory to continue downloading where you left off.

Masaru Suzuqi -under review-
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Joined: 06/06/2018

OK, thanks. I will try it next time. But what does interrupt it? Softbank?

chaosmonk

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I am a translator!

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> OK, thanks. I will try it next time. But what does interrupt it? Softbank?

I think momentarily losing your Internet connection can case Abrowser
downloads to fail instead of picking up where they left off. I generally
don't have this problem in wget, but "wget -c" is still useful if you
want to download part of a large file, turn off your laptop and go
somewhere else, and continue the download where you left off.

Masaru Suzuqi -under review-
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Joined: 06/06/2018

So that means usually Abrowser and Tor browser continue to download the rest automatically. I did not know that.
But I think it was not losing the internet connection then. It always can start download but after over 20-30 Mb, it stops.
I have gotten messages from Tor browser that your internet connection is being censored so I asked Softbank if they were censoring their customers's internet traffic but they answered that they were not able to answer such a question.
So I don't know whether they censor our traffic or not. So I guess their censorship is the cause. Suspicious. I pay Softbank 7000 yen per month for using the internet. Plus 500 yen for tethring. Plus 300 yen for the basic internet use (?), etc etc. What they are thinking.

Edit: tethring > tethering
And the messages were from Chrome OS, not Tor browser :P

chaosmonk

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I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/07/2017

> But I think it was not losing the internet connection then. It always
> can start download but after over 20-30 Mb, it stops. I have gotten
> messages from Tor browser that your internet connection is being
> censored so I asked Softbank if they were censoring their customers's
> internet traffic but they answered that they were not able to answer
> such a question.

Perhaps they are trying to limit your bandwidth usage by interrupting
large downloads? I don't know. Try using wget. If wget works than it's
probably a Firefox issue. If wget gets interrupted too, then maybe it is
your ISP.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

Could also be:

a. The server he is downloading from;
b. If downloading from Tor network, the circuit he is using (maybe the Guard Node is having problems, hence his downloads breaking, since that one never changes).

Anyway, I feel like it's the server itself. Notice that it apparently has issues resuming the download which it shouldn't, always starting from 0 again. The solution I provided might solve the issue.

Masaru Suzuqi -under review-
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Joined: 06/06/2018

a. I think that I have tried download from some different places. The issue seems to be the same in any situations.

b. I might study about the Guard Node. I was thinking vaguely the circuit differs every time basically.

> The solution I provided might solve the issue.

Yes, thank you. I will try it and report it.

Masaru Suzuqi -under review-
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Joined: 06/06/2018

I see. So I can determine the cause vaguely. Is wget as secure as Tor? Can it be encrypted? I anyway tend to think Tor is safer Tor is safer because it is encrypted and maybe from other reasons as beginner's faith.

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

wget is merely a "downloader". It's a program that retrieves data from the server you tell it to. Tor is a network. You can use wget over Tor (though curl is better for that, hence me using it in my script below, give it a shot). wget is as secure as downloading from the browser (more or less, but quite similar), so if you run it over Tor it takes advantage of the encryption.

EDIT: Tor is of course not just a Network, it's also a software, but for all purposes Tor and wget are different things.

Masaru Suzuqi -under review-
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Joined: 06/06/2018

Ripper bonza beauty. If I got to know I can run wget and I guess other software too over Tor, I think that I can search and find how to do it. Using other software over Tor was one of my concerns. Thank you!

GNUser
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Joined: 07/17/2013

I made this script myself to use with Tor for large downloads that suffer from constants breaks. It has some nice automatic features which might be useful. Hope this helps anyone :)
Let me know if it solves your problem.

Attached.

AttachmentSize
downloader.sh 835 bytes