File transfer to and from DS-Filestore

There are several ways to gain access to your Desktop Services filespace, including direct access from a Managed Cluster machine, or remote mounting of your DS filespace on your own system. This page describes the use of standard file transfer programs to move files back and forth. Secure FTP is always to be preferred, and is the only choice for incoming connections, though it is possible to make outgoing plain FTP connections from a Managed Cluster machine.

• You can run a file transfer program (FTP Explorer or Fetch (free on site licence), WinSCP etc.) on a Managed Cluster machine, and connect to your own (Departmental) machine, provided this machine runs a suitable server (consult local computing support staff).
• You can run an SFTP program on your Departmental or private machine and connect to your DS filespace. For the latter, connect any SFTP client (such as Fetch v.5 or later, WinSCP in sftp mode, or sftp on Unix systems) to

sftp.pwf.cam.ac.uk

Note that this service does not support scp access; however, various clients described as scp clients, such as WinSCP and pscp (part of the PuTTY suite) can operate in sftp mode and can therefore use the service. To access society and group filespaces by this mechanism, connect first to your home filespace and then navigate to /ux/SOC.

We provide further information about sftp in general.

Downloading files to DS-Filestore from the Internet

Of the vast amount of material now available to be downloaded from the Internet, an increasing proportion is available via a web page. This usually only requires a simple click on a Download button, once you have identified the file you need.

Other files are more easily located and fetched using the specialised FTP programs like FTP Explorer and Fetch. Details of how to use these programs are in the Computing Service pages on file transfer.

Many files fetched from Internet sources will be in special encoded or compressed formats.

Transferring a file directly from one user's personal DS filespace to another is potentially quite complicated. If you regularly need to share files with another user or a group of users, you should consider applying for a group filespace on DS-Filestore.

For one-off transfers, the following are the options:

• Transfer on a USB stick, or CD or ZIP disk
• If you and the recipient are both in the same place, copy the file to the local hard disk on a Managed Cluster machine; the recipient can then log on and copy the file back again to their DS filespace. The hard disk copy should be deleted once the transfer is complete.
• Transfer by email (in the body of the message if the file is plain text; as a mail attachment if it is not).
• Direct copying: this requires the owner first to arrange that the recipient has the right to read the file, and then the recipient to locate the file and copy it. The first step has to be done on a Windows or Linux PC.

Last updated: February 2012