If your connection hangs, it’s usually a firewall issue. Most R packages use "Passive" mode by default, which is generally safer for modern firewalls.
If you don't want to install extra packages, R’s built-in download.file function can handle basic FTP tasks. However, it is generally less robust than the options above. r download file from ftp with password
Hardcoding passwords into your scripts is a major security risk, especially if you share your code or use version control like GitHub. If your connection hangs, it’s usually a firewall issue
RCurl is an older but highly flexible library. It is particularly useful if you need to list files in a directory before downloading or if you are dealing with FTPS (Secure FTP). However, it is generally less robust than the options above
Note: The method = "libcurl" argument is usually required on Windows to handle authentication properly. Security Best Practices