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Graphical file transfer tools

There are plenty of graphical file transfer tools that you can install on your local computer to transfer data to/from CSC servers. Here, we shortly introduce two of them: FileZilla that is available for Windows, macOS and Linux machines, and WinSCP that is available for windows. Cyberduck, which is discussed in the Allas user guide, can be used for this purpose too.

FileZilla – a general file transfer tool

FileZilla is a file transfer tool that you can install on all common operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux). You can download FileZilla client from the FileZilla home page (server is not needed):

When you start FileZilla, a graphical file transfer interface opens to your screen. To open a connection to CSC, define the connection information on the Quickconnect row in the upper part of the interface. Alternatively, you can use the Site Manager button to define a connection. You can reuse the connection settings you have made with Site Manager by right-clicking the Site Manager button.

For example, use the following settings for connecting to Puhti:

  • Host: puhti.csc.fi
  • User / Username: your CSC username
  • Password: your CSC password
  • Port: 22
  • Protocol: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol
  • Logon type: Ask for password

Once the connection is opened, FileZilla shows two interactive file listings side by side. On the left side you have your local file system and on the right site the remote file system (e.g. files on Puhti). You can change your location by interactive browsing or by typing a directory path to the Local site or Remote site fields.

Once you have the right directories open on both the local and remote site, you can copy files or directories between the sites simply by selecting a file or folder with your mouse and dragging it to the other site. For other operations, try right-clicking a file or a folder.

FileZilla interface

File transfer on Windows with WinSCP

WinSCP is a free open source program for Windows. It provides secure file transfer between a local and remote computer. WinSCP supports SFTP, FTP and SCP transfer protocols. WinSCP has many features that make operating with files simple. The installation documentation for WinSCP is available at the official website.

There are two graphical user interfaces in WinSCP: Explorer and Commander. You select your default interface during the installation of WinSCP, but you can change it later in the preferences dialogue. The Explorer interface looks and works similar to Windows Explorer. If you are familiar with Windows Explorer, you will probably find using WinSCP Explorer interface easier.

Start WinSCP and enter your login information like hostname, username, password and the server's protocol. In the Explorer interface, you can drag and drop files between WinSCP and Windows Explorer to transfer them. In order to do other operations, right-click any object in the interface and select the operation from the pop-up menu. It is also possible to right-click a file or a directory, and drag it to another location.

There are many basic operations that you can do with WinSCP:

  • Navigating
  • Uploading files
  • Downloading files
  • Managing connections
  • Editing/opening files
  • Synchronizing a local directory with a remote one, and vice versa
  • Changing properties (permissions, ownership, etc.) of remote files
  • Renaming files
  • Deleting files
  • Moving and duplicating remote files
  • Creating new objects
  • Creating files
  • Creating directories
  • Creating links and short-cuts

Uploading files to CSC environment

You can use the different tools of WinSCP to upload files to CSC's computing environment. The easiest methods are drag and drop with your mouse, using copy and paste, as well as using Windows Explorer's Send To feature.

When using drag and drop, select the local files you want to upload e.g. inside Windows Explorer. Then, drag selected files with your mouse and drop them to the remote panel in the WinSCP interface.

When using copy and paste, select the local files you want to upload e.g. inside Windows Explorer and copy them to the clipboard. Then, move to the WinSCP interface and select File|Paste from the menu (or Ctrl+V). Note: if your clipboard content is a plain text string only, File|Paste operation will work differently. In this case it will open the path stored on the clipboard instead of pasting the files.

You can use Windows Explorer's "Send To" feature to upload files to a server. To enable this feature, use the installer or select the feature in preferences ("add upload short cut to Explorer's 'sent to' context menu").

WinSCP interface

Downloading files from CSC environment

The easiest ways to download files are drag and drop with a mouse and using URL addresses. When using drag and drop, first select the remote files you want to download in the remote panel of the WinSCP interface. Then, drag the selected files with your mouse and drop them to the local directory e.g. in Windows Explorer.

You can register WinSCP to handle SFTP and SCP protocol URL addresses. To register this feature, use the installer or select the feature in preferences ("Register to handle sftp:// and scp:// addresses"). Now you can type a URL in your web browser and WinSCP allows you to download the file.

WinSCP interface

Further documentation


Last update: August 22, 2024