File transfer: SFTP and SCP

Related pages

Files and storage

DropOff Service

The file transfer service lets you to transfer copies of files between your computer's hard disk and your University filestore.

Overview
Help & troubleshooting
Our commitments

Overview

Eligibility

All students and staff can use this service.

Duo two-factor authentication is required to log in.

To use the file transfer service you will need a client program on your computer. For example, Windows users can install WinSCP.

There are no limits to the number or size of files you can transfer.

Types of file transfer

Name	Host name	Port number	Notes
SFTP	sftp.york.ac.uk	22	Secure File Transfer Protocol. It is secure because it encrypts your data during its transmission, meaning anyone spying on your network traffic cannot take a copy of your data.
SCP	scp.york.ac.uk	22	Secure Copy. It encrypts your data while it is in transit between your computer and the central file servers.
RSYNC	sftp.york.ac.uk	22	Rsync Securely copy folders and files.

Name

Host name

Port number

Notes

SFTP

sftp.york.ac.uk

Secure File Transfer Protocol.

It is secure because it encrypts your data during its transmission, meaning anyone spying on your network traffic cannot take a copy of your data.

SCP

scp.york.ac.uk

Secure Copy.

It encrypts your data while it is in transit between your computer and the central file servers.

RSYNC

sftp.york.ac.uk

Rsync

Securely copy folders and files.

Remember that the speed of your network connection will determine how long it takes to transfer your files.

Some home broadband services have a significantly lower upload speed compared with their download speed. You should therefore allow plenty of time to transfer large files.

When connecting to the SFTP server you will start in your M: drive (Linux home directory). The contents of your H: drive can be found in a folder called 'w2k'.

Filestores on Storage are also accessible from the SFTP servers and can be found at: /shared/storage/filestore (eg /shared/storage/biology)

Transferring files to other people

You need to log on to the service before you can transfer your files. This means it is not suitable for transferring files to other people at the University (because you don't know their password, and they don't know yours) or at other sites.

Instead you should consider using our DropOff Service.

For other transfer options, see:

Filestore

Temporary storage of large files

If you are transferring files that are too large to fit in your home directory, you can temporarily store them in /usr/transfer.

Please note that any files stored in /usr/transfer will be automatically deleted after 72 hours.

Help & troubleshooting

Help

WinSCP guide

Library & IT Help Desk

If you're having problems with the file transfer service, get in touch with the IT Support.

Our commitments

Service status	Live and supported service.
Hours of service	24/7
Service support	For help and support with this service, contact the IT Support.
Hours of support	Help from the Library & IT Help Desk is available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Target availability	General IT Services targets: Information Services Service Standards
Resilience	This service runs on our high-availability virtual machine platform. In the event of a major incident it will automatically failover between data centres, with only a brief outage. Filestores are replicated between data centres and should also fail over automatically.
Our performance	Our service standards have been produced in consultation with our customers, and monitor the quality, timeliness and access to facilities and services: Information Services Service Standards
Complaints procedure	If you wish to give us general feedback on this service, please see our Feedback page for ways to get in touch. If you wish to make a complaint, please see our complaints procedure.