Since I was a member of that close-vote tribunal, I'll offer up my own thoughts. I voted to close as off-topic because:

> I have some friends that are non technical that live overseas.

This tweaked my radar right out of the gate. ServerFault's FAQ restricts the site to IT professionals who are working on projects that are within a professional environment or for professional purposes. That doesn't necessarily mean "Work in exchange for cash" either. However, if you can edit out any reference to a home-use scenario, and the scenario then stands on its own as potentially professional, we'll probably answer it.

we have something of a Don't Ask Don't Tell policy about home stuff. However, beware that home scenarios often come with odd caveats and restrictions that will inevitably require someone to either drop the subject or confess that it's a hackneyed home-use situation. Witness [this question][1] that smelled funny to begin with, but then in the comments was eventually found to be a non-professional that was in need of educating (which is fine, it's just not what we're here for).

> They need to be able to download a very large file (10+ gigs) but
> their internet connection is spotty at best.

This is the core of your question, and could probably be asked without reference to home-use or non-technical friends. I'll see what I can do about editing it to be on-topic.


> As they are non technical, they have no familiarity with rsync

This isn't necessarily the kiss of death for a question. Many of us deal with non technical users, clients and customers that have to have complex systems set up for them to work on a push-button basis. However...

> plus I don't know how to get rsync working on Windows.

This one pushed my buttons and pretty much sealed my close vote. In my opinion, the general consensus is: Not knowing is forgivable. Not learning is unforgivable. You don't know how to get it set up on Windows? Learn (as long as that's the best option in your scenario).

> My question is: does Linux's SFTP via SSH support file transfer
> resume? I have heard that both the client and server need to support
> file resume for it to work. I'm guessing it will, because rsync over
> ssh does, and that's just on the client side.

And the final nails have been driven into the question's coffin. It's one thing to ask for guidance, but this is bordering on a RTM question. It would be better to show that you've at least put some research effort into things by saying "I've read the man pages but can't discern if resume is supported." Even better: "I've tried to get it to work by doing thus-and-such, but the results were this-and-that. What could I be doing wrong and how can I troubleshoot this?"

***Never fear!*** I'll go about trying to edit your question to into an on-topic state and see where it goes.


  [1]: http://serverfault.com/q/458289/9770