11.2. Access Methods

openSUSE Documentation Chapter 11. Copying and Sharing Files / 11.2. Access Methods
	Chapter 11. Copying and Sharing Files		11.3. Accessing Files on Different Operating Systems on the same Computer

The following methods and protocols are featured in this chapter:

FTP

Use FTP (File Transfer Protocol), if you need to exchange files very often and with different users. There are many graphical client applications available for FTP on Windows*, MacOS and Linux. Depending on how your FTP server is used, enable read, write permissions or both. See Section 11.4.3, “Copying Files with FTP” for more details on FTP.

NFS

NFS (Network File System) is a client/server system. A server exports one ore more directories that can be imported by a client. For more information, see Chapter Sharing File Systems with NFS (↑Reference).

Use NFS, if you have to share files very often and for different users. It integrates well into your Linux system and you can browse the imported directory structure like any other folder on your local machine. Depending on how you configure it, enable read, write permissions or both. In general, for a home user it makes sense to allow read and write access.

rsync

Use rsync to regularly transfer large volumes of data if these do not change heavily. A typical use case for rsync is managing data backups. Refer to the manual page of the rsync command and Section 11.4.2, “Transferring Files with rsync” for more information.

SMB

Samba is a client/server system and an implementation of the SMB protocol. Normally it is used in Windows networks. Refer to Chapter Samba (↑Reference) for more information about Samba.

Use Samba, if you have to share files very often and with different users. Samba as a Linux-only solution is uncommon, use NFS instead. However, if you want to be compatible with future Windows installations, it may pay off to set up a Samba server. For more information on setting up a Samba server, refer to Section 11.7, “Sharing Files between Linux and Windows with Samba”.

SSH

SSH (Secure Shell) allows a secure channel between a local and a remote computer. The SSH suite consists of several commands and uses public key encryption to authenticate users. For more information, see Chapter SSH: Secure Network Operations (↑Reference).

Use SSH, if you copy files occasionally over an untrusted network and if you are the only user doing so. Although there are graphical user interfaces available, SSH is mainly considered a command line utility.

Check the following tables to determine which solution best suits your needs.

Table 11.1. Accessing Files from Removable Media

Method	Source/Target OS	Refer to
CD/DVD	all	Chapter Burning CDs and DVDs (↑KDE User Guide)
USB	all	Section “Inserting or Connecting Removable Media” (Chapter 1, Getting Started with the KDE Desktop, ↑KDE User Guide)

	Filesystems on USB Sticks
Normally USB-Sticks are formatted with the FAT filesystem that allows for read and write access in Linux. However, it is possible to use other filesystems with USB sticks. If NTFS is used, only read access will be possible. For more information on filesystems, refer to Section 11.3, “Accessing Files on Different Operating Systems on the same Computer”.

Table 11.2. Copying Files

Method	Source/Target OS	Refer to
SSH	Linux/Linux	Section 11.4.1, “Copying Files with SSH”
SSH	Linux/Windows	Section 11.5, “Copying Files between Linux and Windows Computers with SSH”
rsync	Linux/Linux	Section 11.4.2, “Transferring Files with rsync”

Table 11.3. Sharing Files

Method	Source/Target OS	Refer to
NFS	Linux/Linux	Section 11.6.1, “Transferring Files with NFS”
FTP	Linux/Linux	Section 11.4.3, “Copying Files with FTP”
SMB	Linux/Linux	Section 11.6.2, “Sharing Files with Samba”
SMB	Linux/Windows	Section 11.7, “Sharing Files between Linux and Windows with Samba”