Copying and Transferring Files

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Copying Files Between Computers

There are three common ways to get a file from one computer to another:

1. On a removable disk/memory key/CD/DVD. (Floppy disks are being phased out).
2. Over Ryerson's network via FTP. (Typically between a lab workstation and a server).
3. For Unix XFTP.

Using USB Keys

Fig. 1 - USB Key

The USB key, also known as a memory stick, is one of the newer and more efficient ways of storing information or copying it from one computer to another. They are affordable and come with different memory capacities. You can add and remove information from the device as you work. There is no burning or formatting required.

Where to plug it?

Computers at Ryerson have USB ports (where the USB key is to be plugged in). These ports are located on the front of the computer tower, and may be behind a grey door (if applicable). You will find two USB ports there.

It is usually easier to connect the USB key to the front port, the one closest to you. Once plugged in, the USB key will prompt a popup window that will show various options; choose the Open Folder option. Now you are ready to simply drag the files from your computer into the drive and vice versa.

Using a CD-RW/DVD-RW

There are two types of compact discs you can record (burn) data onto:

• CD Recordable (CD-R)
• CD Rewritable (CD-RW).

As for digital video discs, there are many types available for recording data; here are some of the most commonly used types:

• DVD Recordable (DVD-R)
• DVD plus Recordable (DVD+R)
• DVD Rewriteable (DVD-RW)
• DVD plus Rewriteable (DVD+RW)

The chemical composition of the Recordable discs gives the disc a “write once, read many” format. This means that you can only burn data once, however, you may add files later (provided you do NOT close the disc) but you can never remove data. A formatted Rewriteable disc can be repeatedly written on. You can erase, add and rewrite any data. The CD/DVD acts like a floppy disk with a vast amount of storage space, but if you do not format the Rewriteable disc, it simply acts like a Recordable disc. It is important to understand that formatting a Rewriteable disc allows it to be read by any operating system.

The Roxio Creator DETM software is available at Ryerson for formatting your CDs and DVDs.

Formatting a CD/DVD Rewriteable

Please be aware that in order for a CD or DVD to be formatted and have data written to it, a CD recorder or a DVD recorder is needed. The recorders, otherwise known as burners, are drives that are capable of both reading the information on the disc and writing information to it; a regular CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive can only read the information.

A DVD-ROM and DVD burner are generally more useful than a CD-ROM and a CD burner as the DVD-ROM can read information from CDs and the DVD burner can write to CDs, but the CD devices cannot read or write to DVDs.

Make sure that the computer you are using has the appropriate burner before proceeding to formatting your CD or DVD discs.

Follow these simple steps to format your CD/DVD discs:

1. Take a new CD-RW or DVD-RW/DVD+RW disc and place it in the disc drive of the computer.
   
   
2. Click Start (Bottom Left Corner) > All Programs > Roxio Creator DE > Home.
   
   
3. The Home page of the Roxio Creator DE will open. Click Tools in the left menu panel.
   
   Fig. 2 - Roxio Creator DE Home Page
   
4. After clicking Tools, a submenu will appear below the heading and the Tools page will load. Click Erase Disk in the submenu or in the Tools page, as circled in the image below.
   
   Fig. 3 - Roxio Creator DE Tools Page
   
5. The page will now display the available Erase Disc options. Click Full Erase (slower but more thorough), then click the orange, circular button at the bottom right corner to continue.
   
   Fig. 4 - Erase Disc Window
   
6. When Roxio indicates that it has finished erasing your disc, click Done and you will be brought back to the Tools page. You have now successfully formatted your rewriteable disc.
   
   Fig. 5 - Erase Completion

Once the CD/DVD rewriteable has been formatted, you may begin adding, removing and saving work onto the disc. You do not need to use special software; simply treat the disk like a floppy diskette. You may also cut and paste data, or save work directly onto the disk.

Warning! Removable Disks are NOT Safe!

The failure of any disk system can result in data loss.

**Note: A higher failure rate occurs with removable disk systems, like the 3.5" diskettes, than with the sealed hard drives in the Ryerson lab systems. Since many students work directly from these removable disk drives without making copies of their files, on occasion, students lose an entire term's worth of work.

The following guidelines minimize the possibility of losing data:

• Avoid working directly from disks whenever possible! On all the Windows systems at Ryerson you should:
  • Copy your files to D:\user_name, where user_name is a folder in the D:\ drive named after your my.ryerson user name
  • Remove your disk from the computer and return it to its storage case
  • Work on your files from the D:\ drive, saving them there as you work
  • Copy the modified files to a removable disk when you are finished or after major changes
  • Ensure your files are copied correctly; return the disk to its storage case
  • Delete your files on the D:\ drive before you leave so no one else can read or use them
    
    
• Make backup copies of your files. Do this by:
  • Copying your files onto an extra disk
  • Keeping copies of your files on your home computer
  • Keeping copies of your files on a server like Malthus, Turing, or Snapper
    
    
• Handle your disks correctly:
  • NEVER open the disk to look inside it
  • Always store the disk in its protective sleeve or case
  • Avoid dropping or jarring the disk
  • Do not store disks loosely in bags or other containers

Please follow the guidelines above. Ryerson's computer labs are busy and many things can happen to damage a disk, which can then damage a computer's disk drive. In turn, the drive may damage your removable disk! Before using a lab, make sure you have a copy of any file you are about to use. Academic Computing regularly tests and replaces damaged disk drives, but they cannot guarantee that every drive is in good working order. It is your responsibility to protect your data.

Copying Files Over the Network and Internet

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard procedure for moving files between computers both on the Internet and within Ryerson's computer network. FTP allows file transfer between dissimilar systems with different file structures. Anonymous FTP on some systems allows public access to certain directories and files.

Convenient programs on computers running Windows, such as SSH Secure File Transfer and IE (Internet Explorer), use a graphical interface to send and receive files.

Copying Files To and From Home

Use an FTP program such as IE when transferring or copying files from home. Connect to the Internet using an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or over Ryerson's modem pool. FTP can also be used to copy files between computers on campus.

SSH Secure File Transfer

Introduction

The SSH Secure File Transfer client allows easy and secure file transfer between your local computer and a remote host that supports SSH. You can upload or download files with a graphical interface similar to Windows Explorer.

**Note: Since the remote host computer may not be running a SSH server, this program is not an automatic alternative to an FTP client like IE. All Academic Computing servers have SSH running. You cannot use the SSH client to connect to servers that only provide FTP access.

Starting SSH Secure File Transfer

To begin your secure file transfer session, click Start > All Programs > SSH Secure Shell > Secure File Transfer Client.

Exiting SSH Secure File Transfer

To end your secure file transfer session, click File > Disconnect, disconnecting from the remote host and click File > Exit, closing the SSH Secure File Transfer client. Another option is to click in the Toolbar and then click exit button at the top right corner of the SSH window.

Connect to Remote Host

In the SSH window, click File > Connect, click in the Toolbar or click the Quick Connect in the Toolbar. The Connect to Remote Host window will appear. Enter the Host Name (the server you wish to connect to), such as stw.ryerson.ca for the Ryerson Student Web Server, and your my.ryerson shortID (eight characters or less) in the User Name field. Click Connect when ready.


Fig. 6 - Connect to Remote Host Window

If it is your first time using SSH on the computer, there will be a Host Identification prompt asking you save the new Host key to a local database. Click Yes.


Fig. 7 - Host Identification Window

Next, the Enter Password window will appear. Enter your my.ryerson password and click OK.


Fig. 8 - Enter Password Window

Transferring Files

Once successfully connected to the remote host, a screen similar to the one shown below is displayed. Note the confirmation message in the status bar at the bottom of the screen and the host name at the top, in the window’s title bar.


Fig. 9 - SSH Secure File Transfer Window

The remote host computer's directory tree is displayed in the right panel, as indicated by the Remote Name heading, and is similar to Windows Explorer. The left panel shows the current local computer’s folders’ contents. For example, in the right panel of the dialog box above, the Images and public_html folders are folders in the main directory of in the demo01 account. The content of the C: drive is displayed in the left panel.

"Drag and Drop" mouse operations can be used to copy and move files to and from the remote host computer. For example, when uploading a file from your local computer to the remote server, double click the Computer icon and its window to find the file you want to upload. Select the file from its current location; this is a specific folder on your disk drive. Drag the file over the right panel of the File Transfer screen and release. A dialog box appears with the status of the transfer.

To copy multiple files at once, hold down the Shift or Ctrl keys and click on desired files. If you hold down the Shift key, all the files and folders between the first and last item clicked will be selected. If you hold down the Ctrl key, you can select individual files and folders one by one.

SSH for Home

A copy of the software, SSH Secure Shell for Workstations Windows Client, is available for students to use on their home computers. You may also download SSH from the CCS web site, from the comfort of your home:

1. Go to http://www.ryerson.ca/ccs/software/downloads
   
   
2. In the new page that loads, click Software for Securing your computer.
   
   
3. In the table, scroll down to the SSH FTP row of the table. In the right-most cell of the row, click Student Download or Staff/Faculty Download, as appropriate.
   
   
4. You will be prompted for your my.ryerson user name and password, and then after successful authentication, you may proceed to Run or Save the setup file.

**Note: To the left of the Download link, there is an icon which links to a PDF with instructions for downloading and installing SSH.

SSH Help

For assistance, click Help > Contents on the menu bar of the SSH secure shell window. Additional help is also available online at http://www.ssh.com/support.

Internet Explorer File Transfer (IE FTP)

Introduction

IE offers Microsoft Windows users a fast and easy system to the FTP protocol.

Steps to using IE:

1. Open up Internet Explorer.
   
   
2. In the address bar, type ftp://user_name@stw.ryerson.ca for Ryerson’s Student Web Server (STW), or ftp://user_name@server_name.acs.ryerson.ca for Malthus or Turing. In both cases, replace the user_name field with your my.ryerson/Malthus/Turing user name, and replace server_name with the Malthus or Turing server, and press Enter.
   
   
3. You will be prompted with the Log on window shown below. Enter your user name and password, and then click Log on.
   
   
   Fig. 10 - FTP Server Login Window
   
4. A screen will open with the folders on the server of your choice. Now you may proceed to open these folders and look for the desired files. If you find a file you want to copy to your computer, open the folder you want to save to on your local computer and drag the file from the server’s folder to yours. You can do the same to copy a file from your computer to the server.

**Note: You can also click on a folder, select Copy to folder... and select the local folder to place the file in.

Command Line FTP

**Note: This is not available in the Academic Computing Labs.

You can use command line FTP on all of Ryerson's UNIX servers (STW, Malthus, Turing, Jupiter, and Snapper) and any computer or terminal with shell access. Access the command line by logging into a server or by using your login to remotely access the server.

To access the command line, click Start > Run, then in the run window, type cmd and press Enter. If you are using Windows Vista, click > click the textbox located directly above with text Start Search > type cmd and press Enter. From the command line, follow these steps to move a file:

1. Type ftp host.domain to initiate an FTP session. host.domain represents the remote site's Internet address you want to transfer files to, or from. For example, typing ftp snapper.dcn.ryerson.ca connects you to Ryerson's Sun server. FTP prompts you to enter your login name and password.
   
   
   Fig. 11 - Command Prompt Window
   
2. After connecting to the remote computer system, use standard directory commands such as cd and dir or ls to help navigate through the remote file system.
   
   
3. Using the cd command (change directory) at the command prompt moves you to the directory where your file is (or where you would like it to be).
   
   
4. If your file is a binary file (for example an executable program, a compressed archive, a word-processor document, or any sound or image file) type binary. FTP assumes files to be text files unless told otherwise. Attempting to move a binary file in ASCII (text) mode corrupts the file. Transfer any files with the extension .txt or .text, and any HTML files with the extension .htm or .html, as text file.
   
   
5. To move a file from the local computer to a remote computer, type put filename.ext, where filename is the name of the file on your local computer and ext is the three-character extension of the file. For example, if you wish to move a file from a floppy diskette, type put a:\filename.ext.
   
   
6. If you wish to move a file from a remote computer to the local computer, you can do so by typing get filename.ext. For example, to get a file to a floppy disk you can type get filename.ext a:\filename.ext.
   
   
7. Use the commands mput, or mget in conjunction with the wildcard placeholder * to move multiple files. For example, typing mget docu*.txt retrieves all files that begin with docu and have extension .txt.
   
   
8. After transferring files, type quit or bye. FTP will return you to the command prompt.

Sample FTP Session

The following is an example of an FTP session showing the transfer of a binary file and a text file from one UNIX server to another:

FTP Line Commands

Use the following list of FTP line commands at the FTP prompt. ( FTP>) Type man ftp for a more detailed list.