Downloading Data From Mediaflux

Because Mediaflux supports a lot of protocols there are a lot of possible ways to access your data.

1. Authenticated: Those who have their own accounts (local or via the Australian Access Federation) and can directly log in to Mediaflux.
2. Non-authenticated: Those who don't have accounts - the user gains access via (usually temporary) secure tokens provisioned by somebody else. Of course, this mechanism can also work for users who have their own accounts as well - they just don't need those accounts in this instance.

Authenticated Users

This means you have an account and can log in directly to Mediaflux.  Generally speaking you can either use a dedicated Mediaflux client (which provide the best data integrity guarantees) or you can use a more generic protocol such as sFTP with a third-party client or SMB to mount as a network drive.

For downloading data, we recommend:

• A Mediaflux download client that uses the HTTPS protocol
  
  • Mediaflux Explorer (HTTPS Protocol) - Easy-to-use GUI client
  • Unimelb command-line clients - Flexible client for those who are used to using the CLI
• sFTP if you are already familiar with it and have an sFTP client installed.
• Rclone - cloud transfers

It is also possible to mount Mediaflux as a network drive, which is convenient for modifying data in-place.  We don't recommend this for bulk-downloads as it lacks the data-integrity guarantees that the HTTPS protocol provides.  See:

• Network Share (SMB Protocol)

For a full list of available clients for Mediaflux, see the List of all access methods.

Non-Authenticated Users

The following mechanisms mean that you don't need to have an account and don't need to login directly to Mediaflux.  You will be provided with a sharable link which you can use to download the data that have been shared with you.

Sharable links all authenticate to Mediaflux with a secure identity token. The token usually expires after a fixed time (which you would be told by the person who provisions your data for you) and it is granted access to the data that it needs.

Direct Sharable Links

• Direct shareable links download data to a container (e.g. a tar or zip file)
• Direct links are not good for big data because
  • If the download fails (e.g. network interruption) you have to start again from the beginning
  • The downloaded container has to be extracted after download, requiring extra storage space
• Direct shareable links can be provisioned by users via Mediaflux Explorer (HTTPS Protocol) (see the Sharable links video on the Explorer how to videos page).

More information is available on the Direct shareable links page.

Indirect Sharable Links

• An indirect shareable link downloads a downloader (e.g. a script or application) which itself downloads the data
• These are best for big data because
  • They can be restarted
  • They may be able to download data in parallel
  • They don't pack the data into a container (so you don't need extra storage to extract)
• Currently, indirect shareable links can only be provisioned by specific users via scripts provided via RCS

More information is available on the Indirect shareable links page.