You know, after reading through @mikeappsreviewer and @suenodelbosque, I’ve gotta say, Finder might be the “classic Mac way,” but it’s about as modern as floppy disks when it comes to FTP. People keep hyping the “Go > Connect to Server” process, but honestly? In my experience, half the time, Finder either gives up quietly or just beachballs while you wait and wonder if your credentials are wrong or if Apple just hates your server.
Slightly hot take: If you’re getting connection errors, don’t waste your time fiddling with Finder settings (unless you KNOW it’s basic FTP with no encryption). Nine times out of ten, the culprit is either the FTP protocol mismatch (Finder ONLY handles unencrypted FTP—no FTPS, no SFTP) or a firewall issue the average person isn’t fixing between coffee refills. Also, drag-and-drop in Finder is SLOW and you’ll have zero clue what’s happening when something fails.
Seriously, just grab a real FTP client like Cyberduck or FileZilla. They don’t look as pretty, but guess what, they WORK, and more importantly, they tell you what’s going on with the connection. Most give way clearer error messages, options to tweak ports, encryption, passive/active mode, retries, bulk transfer—you name it. And: you can queue transfers, resume failed uploads (Finder does not care about your 10GB upload, trust me), and even edit files remotely.
But hey, if you’re obsessed with sticking everything in Finder, CloudMounter is probably worth the money. I was skeptical at first (most “mount anything everywhere” apps are janky), but this one actually makes your FTP, SFTP, cloud drives, etc., look like a local disk. Just don’t expect the free tier to last forever, and again, for heavy file editing, pure FTP clients are still better IMHO.
Bottom line:
- Finder = only worth trying for bare-minimum, unencrypted servers.
- Cyberduck/FileZilla = robust, free, will solve most errors.
- CloudMounter = good middle ground, puts stuff in Finder, handy if you also need Google Drive/Dropbox in Finder.
And pro tip: If you keep getting “connection failed” messages, check if your host needs SFTP/FTPS—because Finder will never support either. Sometimes the answer is “use a different tool,” not “keep banging your head against the wall.”