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Transferring files on Windows

Transferring files on Windows​

To transfer files to or from the cluster you need a secure FTP (SFTP) o secure copy (SCP) client. There are several different clients, but as previously mentioned, we recommend using the Putty clients for transferring files: psftp and pscp. You can find them at the same web page as PuTTY (http://www.putty.org), you just have to go to the download page for PuTTY and you will see them in the "alternative binary files" section of the page. They will most likely be included in the general PuTTY installer too.

Some other possible tools for users requiring graphical file transfers could be:

Using PSFTP​

You will need a command window to execute psftp (press start button, click run and type cmd). The program first asks for the machine name (transfer3.bsc.es for example), and then for the username and password. Once you are connected, it's like a Unix command line.

With command help you will obtain a list of all possible commands. But the most useful are:

  • get file_name : To transfer from the cluster to your local machine.
  • put file_name : To transfer a file from your local machine to the cluster.
  • cd directory : To change remote working directory.
  • dir : To list contents of a remote directory.
  • lcd directory : To change local working directory.
  • !dir : To list contents of a local directory.

You will be able to copy files from your local machine to the cluster, and from the cluster to your local machine. The syntax is the same that cp command except that for remote files you need to specify the remote machine:

Copy a file from the cluster:
> pscp.exe username@transfer3.bsc.es:remote_file local_file
Copy a file to the cluster:
> pscp.exe local_file username@transfer3.bsc.es:remote_file