Generally, disk space on any computer system is a state of apparent chaos. Users tend to save files to wherever the computer happens to be connected: letters to the financial committee are stored with sample files in the Word Perfect directory or folder, accompanying spreadsheets end up with Excel or 1-2-3, and the mailing list is in the Approach or FoxPro space. To make matters worse, DOS filenames are limited to 8 characters and a "dot" three-character extension, resulting in cryptic descriptions such as in-gophr.htm, apr0196.wks, or new-memo.doc.

[Note: The paragraph above and the next two paragraphs are repeated in the Alice in Gopher Space section.]

Even the owner-user of such a filing system is sometimes hard pressed to remember the topic of new-memo.doc, whether in- means in, Indiana, or Internet, and is that April 1, 1996, or April 19th?

Computer directories on large-space servers are often in a similar state. Locating something on a 3.5" floppy is one thing; finding a specific file on an 8 gigabyte server can be maddening, even if the searcher knows and understands the lengthy "path" structure.

Originally, command-line FTP was not only the only way to transfer files from a remote computer to your computer, it was also the method by which the researcher moved from directory to directory, folder to folder, file to file, searching for needed information. All work is done from the UNIX prompt and requires a working knowledge of UNIX file manipulation, environment, and output commands. Researchers need to be fluent with mkdir, cd, pwd, cat, get and put.

Along came Archie! Archie was designed at McGill University in Canada. The Archie server is a system that indexes FTP sites, listing the files that are available at each site. The Archie client is a program that reads the lists and allows the researcher to retrieve the file from the remote site.

Many companies and institutions provide what is called an anonymous ftp site. This is a location on their file server which is open to the public. Using an FTP client, the researcher travels to the remote computer and logs in as username: anonymous and supplies his/her local username@address as the password.

If the FTP client is on the UNIX server, the researcher needs to understand the UNIX commands. If the researcher is using one of the many Archie clients around the world, the files will be organized according to the search hierarchy selected. If the researcher is using a dedicated DOS, Windows, or Mac FTP client, the search is conducted with mouse clicks and/or arrow key movements.

Web browsers provide quick FTP entry to anonymous ftp sites. However, the display will be text oriented and actually appears to have the same structure as a Gopher or UNIX command line output. The Web browser is actually searching an FTP/Gopher site (not a Web site) and relaying the results in text.

However, if the researcher needs to transfer many files -- such as images for Web site development -- the Web browser is not the appropriate tool to use. Browsers only allow the user to transfer a file through a mouse click on the file link. To transfer multiple files with a single command, the researcher needs to have a dedicated FTP client running in DOS, Windows or Mac. Discuss this with your network system administrator.

FTP uses a great deal of the resources of your site and the host site. Plan file transfers for early in the day or late in the evening. Remember that every file you transfer (or download) uses storage space. It is easy to overuse MCCSC resources with FTP.

Also, check every file downloaded for potential viruses. Many sites automatically check and clean these files, but some don't! Find out what you should do before unzipping or executing any file you download.

There are two Road Map FTP lessons: FTP (Part I) and FTP (Part II).

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