What is a transfer?

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A transfer moves files and folders from one storage location to another (examples of storage locations include your own local machine, a remote server, public or private cloud storage).

Aspera's FASP® transfer technology allows Aspera on Cloud users to share and send files and folders quickly, easily, securely – overcoming the traditional problems and bottlenecks of other transfer technologies.

For example, these are some of the operations you may perform that initiate a FASP transfer:

  • Send or receive a digital package in your Packages app
  • Download content you receive in a package
  • Move files and folders from a package to your Files app
  • Move files and folders from one directory to another directory within the Files app

The transfer may be a copy-and-paste action to the new location, leaving the source content intact in the original location. Or it may be a copy-and-delete operation, pasting the content to the new location while deleting the original content in the source location.

You can monitor active transfers and review completed transfers in the transfer monitor.

There are four transfer types in Aspera on Cloud:

  • These two transfer types require either the IBM Aspera Connect app and browser extension or Aspera HTTP Gateway:
    • Upload: Uploading content from your local machine or from a local or remote storage location into an Aspera on Cloud workspace. This is typically a copy/paste operation, leaving the source content intact in the original location. Most Send operations are also uploads, copying the content to an interim location on a transfer server accessible to the recipient for download.
    • Download: Downloading content from the Aspera on Cloud workspace to your local machine, or to a local or remote storage location. This is also typically a copy/paste operation, leaving the source content in Aspera on Cloud intact while duplicating it in the target location.
  • These two transfers types do not use Aspera Connect or Aspera HTTP Gateway; these are FASP-native transfers:
    • Node-to-node: Also called share-to-share. Moving content from one Aspera transfer server to another. This may be the case when moving files and folders from one location to another in your Aspera on Cloud workspace – for example, when you move files or folders from a package you received in your Packages app to a location in your Files app. Moving content from one location to another within your Files app may also be a transfer, depending on the source and destination locations. Such a move can be a copy or a move operation; hold the Alt key while you drag to change the default action (the default action varies based on the source or destination location; see also Move or copy content in your Files app).
    • Intra-node: Moving content from one location on an Aspera transfer server to another location on the same server. This may be the case when moving files and folders from one location to another in your Aspera on Cloud workspace. For example, when you move files or folders from a package you received in your Packages app to a location in your Files app; or when you move items from one directory to another within the Files app.