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Learn to transfer files to and from Runpod.

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Overview

There are several methods to transfer files between your local machine and Pods. Each method has different advantages depending on your use case: runpodctl is the simplest option for occasional small file transfers. It’s pre-installed on all Pods, requires no setup, and uses secure one-time codes for authentication. Best for quick transfers of individual files or small datasets. SCP provides a standard, reliable way to transfer files over SSH. It works well for both individual files and directories, and is ideal for users already familiar with command-line tools. Requires SSH configuration on your Pod. rsync offers the most advanced features, including incremental transfers, compression, and detailed progress reporting. It’s perfect for large datasets, regular synchronization tasks, or when you need to preserve file attributes. Also requires SSH configuration. Cloud sync enables direct synchronization with cloud storage providers like AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Dropbox. Best for backing up data or sharing files across multiple environments.

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Prerequisites

  • If you intend to use runpodctl, make sure it’s installed on your machine, see install runpodctl
  • If you intend to use scp, make sure your Pod is configured to use real SSH. For more information, see use SSH.
  • If you intend to use rsync, make sure it’s installed on both your local machine and your Pod with apt install rsync.
  • Note the public IP address and external port from the SSH over exposed TCP command (you’ll need these for the SCP/rsync commands).

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Transferring with runpodctl

The Runpod CLI (runpodctl) provides simple commands for transferring data between your machine and Runpod. It’s preinstalled on all Runpod Pods and uses one-time codes for secure authentication, so no API keys are required. If you are transferring large files, it is recommended to use the other methods such as ssh/scp.

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Sending a File

To send a file from source machine: 
runpodctl send data.txt
Example output: 
Sending 'data.txt' (5 B)
Code is: 8338-galileo-collect-fidel
On the other computer run

runpodctl receive 8338-galileo-collect-fidel

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Receiving a File

To receive a file on destination machine: 
runpodctl receive 8338-galileo-collect-fidel
Example output: 
Receiving 'data.txt' (5 B)

Receiving (<-149.36.0.243:8692)
data.txt 100% |████████████████████| ( 5/ 5B, 0.040 kB/s)

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Transferring with SCP

The general syntax for sending files to a Pod with SCP is as follows (execute this on your local machine, and replace the x’s with your Pod’s external TCP port and IP; for this example, they are 43201 and 194.26.196.6, respectively): 
scp -P 43201 -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 /local/file/path root@194.26.196.6:/destination/file/path
If your private key file is in a location other than ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 or you’re using the Windows Command Prompt, make sure you update this path accordingly in your command.It is also recommended to look to the password based ssh if you just need a quick-one-time setup.
Example of sending a file to a Pod: 
scp -P 43201 -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 ~/documents/example.txt root@194.26.196.6:/root/example.txt
If you want to receive a file from your Pod, switch the source and destination arguments: 
scp -P 43201 -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 root@194.26.196.6:/root/example.txt ~/documents/example.txt
If you need to transfer a directory, use the -r flag to recursively copy files and subdirectories (this will follow any symbolic links encountered as well): 
scp -r -P 43201 -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 ~/documents/example_dir root@194.26.196.6:/root/example_dir

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Transferring with rsync

Your local machine must be running Linux or a WSL instance in order to use rsync.
The general syntax for sending files to a Pod with rsync is as follows (execute this on your local machine, and replace the x’s with your Pod’s external TCP port and IP): 
rsync -e "ssh -p 43201" /source/file/path root@194.26.196.6:/destination/file/path
Some helpful flags include:
  • -a/--archive - archive mode (ensures that permissions, timestamps, and other attributes are preserved during the transfer; use this when transferring directories or their contents)
  • -d/--delete - deletes files in the destination directory that are not present in the source
  • -p/--progress - displays file transfer progress
  • -v/--verbose - verbose output
  • -z/--compress - compresses data as it’s being sent and uncompresses as it’s received (heavier on your CPU, but easier on your network connection)
Example of sending a file to a Pod using rsync: 
rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 43201" ~/documents/example.txt root@194.26.196.6:/root/example.txt
If you want to receive a file from your Pod, switch the source and destination arguments: 
rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 43201" root@194.26.196.6:/root/example.txt ~/documents/example.txt
To transfer the contents of a directory (without transferring the directory itself), use a trailing slash in the file path: 
rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 43201" ~/documents/example_dir/ root@194.26.196.6:/root/example_dir/
Without a trailing slash, the directory itself is transferred: 
rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 43201" ~/documents/example_dir root@194.26.196.6:/root/
An advantage of rsync is that files that already exist at the destination aren’t transferred again if you attempt to copy them twice (note the minimal data transfer after the second execution): 
rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 43201" ~/documents/example.txt root@194.26.196.6:/root/example.txt
sending incremental file list
example.txt
             119 100%    0.00kB/s    0:00:00 (xfr#1, to-chk=0/1)

sent 243 bytes  received 35 bytes  185.33 bytes/sec
total size is 119  speedup is 0.43

$ rsync -avz -e "ssh -p 43201" ~/documents/example.txt root@194.26.196.6:/root/example.txt
sending incremental file list

sent 120 bytes  received 12 bytes  88.00 bytes/sec
total size is 119  speedup is 0.90

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Sync a volume to a cloud provider

You can sync your volume to a cloud provider by clicking the Cloud Sync option under your My Pods page, For detailed instructions on connecting to AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure, Backblaze, Dropbox, and configuring these services, please refer to this configuration guide.
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