Skip to main content

How to Transfer Files between Acres and Your Local Computers

Whether you're connecting to ACRES from a Windows or a Linux local machine, here are some easy ways to send or retrieve files to / from ACRES.

For Off-Campus Access

If you are attempting to connect to ACRES, or transfer files to / from ACRES, from an off-campus location, you need to be connected to Clarkson's VPN in order for the file transfer to be successful. See  this article, to learn more: VPN

From Windows Local Machine: Using WinSCP (GUI)

WinSCP is a free, open source, graphical file transfer utility, which helps you transfer files from a local Windows computer to a remote Linux server, such as ACRES. You may download it here. Then find the downloaded executable and run it to begin the installation. Once it is installed, you may transfer files by:

  1. Starting the WinSCP application
  2. Enter your ACRES username and password and log in.
  3. You now see files and folders of your local computer on the right, and files and directories in ACRES on the right.
  4. You may copy files or directories from one to the other by dragging and dropping, or selecting, right-clicking → copy, then right-click → paste

WinSCP_Screenshot.PNG

From Windows Local Machine: Command Line using pscp (from PuTTY)

If your local computer is running a Windows OS, you can use the "pscp" command to transfer files. This command comes installed with PuTTY. (more info on PuTTY here) (Documentation page for pscp here)

  1. You should be able to find the "pscp" command in your PuTTY installation folder. (Look for the pscp.exe file in a folder like: "C:\Program Files\PuTTY" )
  2. It is recommended that you should add this PuTTY folder to your PATH environment variable, so that all of the PuTTY commands are readily accessible from a Windows command line. (follow the instructions here to do this: https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/add-a-directory-to-path-environment-variable-in-windows-10/ )
  3. Click on the start menu, and search for the "Command Prompt" application, and run it.
  4. From the command line, you can simply type "pscp" followed by the arguments explained below, if you have added the PuTTY install directory to your PATH environment variable as recommended in step. Otherwise, you must use the full path to the pscp executable ( "C:\Program Files\PuTTY\pscp.exe" ), followed by the arguments.

Basic usage to send a file to ACRES:

pscp <local\path\to\local\file> @acres.clarkson.edu:<directory path relative to ACRES $HOME>

Basic usage to retrieve a file to ACRES:

pscp @acres.clarkson.edu:<directory path relative to ACRES $HOME>/ <local\path\to\local\directory>

Basic usage to send a whole directory to ACRES (use the "-r" option):

pscp -r <local\path\to\local\directory> @acres.clarkson.edu:<directory path relative to ACRES $HOME>

Reminders about Windows

  • Remember that:
    • Windows file paths use backslashes between directories: ( C:\path\to\file )
    • Linux paths (ergo, paths on ACRES) use forward slashes between directories: ( /path/to/file )
  • Even though the filename of the file from your local machine may appear without a file extension in your Windows File Explorer: (e.g. "myfile" instead of "myfile.txt" ), the file extension must be included when you enter the filename at the command prompt. (Note you can see file extensions in the File Explorer by following the steps here)

Examples: Windows

  1.  To transfer some file, "myfile.txt", from the "Documents" directory on your local machine, to your home directory on ACRES:

    > pscp   C:\Users\Me\Documents\myfile.txt  username@acres.clarkson.edu:
    > pscp   C:\Users\Me\Documents\myfile.txt  username@acres.clarkson.edu:

  2. If you want to transfer a directory, "my_directory", to "$HOME/codes/otherdir/" on ACRES:

    >pscp  -r  C:\Users\Me\Documents\my_directory  username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/otherdir/
    >pscp  -r  C:\Users\Me\Documents\my_directory  username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/otherdir/

  3. If you want to download a file, "myfile.txt", from the Acres directory "$HOME/codes", to the "Documents" folder on the local system:

    > pscp   username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/myfile  Documents\
    > pscp   username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/myfile  Documents\

From Linux Local Machine: Using scp

If your local computer is running a Linux OS, you can use the "scp" command in a unix terminal to transfer files. (manual page here)

Basic usage to send a file to ACRES:

$scp <local/path/to/local/file> @acres.clarkson.edu:<directory path relative to ACRES $HOME>

Basic usage to retrieve a file to ACRES:

$scp @acres.clarkson.edu:<directory path relative to ACRES $HOME>/ <local/path/to/local/directory>

Basic usage to send a whole directory to ACRES (use the "-r" option):

$scp -r <local/path/to/local/file> @acres.clarkson.edu:<directory path relative to ACRES $HOME>

Examples: Linux

  1.  To transfer some file "myfile.txt" from the "Documents" directory on your local machine, to "codes" in your home directory on ACRES:

    [user@localhost~]$ scp   Documents/myfile.txt  username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/
    [user@localhost~]$ scp   Documents/myfile.txt  username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/

  2. If you want to transfer a directory "Documents/my_directory" to your home directory on ACRES.

    [user@localhost~]$ scp  -r  Documents/my_directory/  username@acres.clarkson.edu:
    [user@localhost~]$ scp  -r  Documents/my_directory/  username@acres.clarkson.edu:

  3. If you want to download a directory, "$HOME/codes/my_directory" from Acres to the "Documents" directory on your local system:

    [user@localhost~]$ scp  -r  username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/my_directory/  Documents/
    [user@localhost~]$ scp  -r  username@acres.clarkson.edu:codes/my_directory/  Documents/
Back to top