GetRight can track many Mirrors (other possible addresses) from where a file may be downloaded. GetRight will find the fastest of the different addresses to improve your download speeds. Also, if one server is busy, or if GetRight is unable to reconnect to a server, it automatically switches to use a different Mirror for the file.
When downloading, GetRight does check that the files for alternates are exactly the same size as the original file, but it is always possible that some files returned by these searches will be the same size and name, but do not contain the same contents (DISK1.ZIP is a definite candidate for this). Most files have names unique enough to not be a problem. But if two file have the same name and size, this could cause GetRight to end up with a corrupted file after the download. If you want to be completely safe from this happening, do not use Mirror Searching; or only use it when the file names are not likely to conflict with names someone else might have used.
Automatically use the selected Mirror Search methods
For some file types (.EXE .ZIP) GetRight can automatically do these file mirror searches for you. There are several different mirror searching methods described below.
Only use the selected Mirror Search methods when you choose to search
You can tell GetRight do mirror searches either by checking the boxes on the "Save As" or other windows when adding the download into GetRight, or under the Options button on the download window itself. When these are selected, GetRight will use the methods you have checked.
Use GetRight's list of mirrors for common servers
If you start downloading from one of the most common mirrored sites or their mirrors (such as Simtel.net or TUCOWS) GetRight can automatically calculate a list of alternate addresses.
GetRight uses a MIRRORS.LST and MYMIRROR.LST in the directory where it is installed to calculate these alternates.
You may uncheck this item if you do not wish this to occur.
*You may download an updated MIRRORS.LST file by selecting the "Download Updated Mirror List" under the "File" menu on the Download Status form. This MIRRORS.LST file contains documentation on its structure so you may add other customized lists of mirrors.
*For web-page type files (.HTM, .GIF, etc) GetRight will not check the MIRRORS.LST file for alternate addresses since these files are specific to just one web server. GetRight will check the MYMIRROR.LST for alternates in case you have some special needs.
Use FTP search services to find mirrors
GetRight can automatically use one of the sites which allow searching for many different addresses where a file may be found. This is more likely to find alternate addresses for a file, but can take a bit more time (usually has to download between 25k and 40k). You may pick which server to use for these FTP searches. If you click the magnifying glass button, GetRight will ping these servers to choose the fastest for you from the drop-down list. As the name implies, FTP searching will only find mirrors on FTP servers.
FILENAMES: The file name must contain two numbers to avoid searching for alternates of things like "SETUP.EXE" or "DISK1.ZIP". Most programs to download do contain a number as part of a version in the filename. If the file name is used by more than one unique file (like "DISK10.ZIP" is), this FTP searching could produce incorrect alternates.
The FTP Search server does give an approximate file size to GetRight. If this isn't close to the size of the file from the original URL, the alternate(s) will be removed when GetRight connects to the original URL. If GetRight connects to any alternates later that aren't really exactly the same size as the original URL, it will remove those alternates.
PRIVACY: As part of the FTP searching process, the FTP search server is sent the name of the file to search for. No full URL is sent. With any Internet connection, your IP address is available to the server you connect to; but no other personally identifying information is sent. If you turn this feature on, the FTP search request is only sent to the server you set.
Use FileMirrors.com service for searching for mirrors
This is an anonymous URL sharing service for users of GetRight. If another GetRight user downloaded the same file before you, but found a different mirror for the file and shared that information, this lets you find the mirror they used. And if you share, any people downloading the file after you can then find the mirror you found too. Even better, if you're the 100th or 1000th person downloading the file, you may get many mirrors.
Sharing the URL when using this service is optional. But the more people who do share, the better the database will be and the more mirrors everyone can find.
Since this search sends the exact file size, this search method is less restrictive than FTP searching about trying to make sure the file name is unique.
more info about FileMirros is here